Spirits Reborn
by DarkVampireFae
Summary: Pulling away from her team and the majority of the guild Lucy scours every book she can get her hands on to find a way to bring her friend back to her. With the help of an unexpected Dragon Slayer she sets off on a routine job to add another book to her ever growing collection but on the way she encounters something unknown that's slowly taking more and more friends from her.
1. Chapter 1

**An: Sooo to those of you who read my attempt at CoLu week 2015 you will notice that this seems familiar…that's cause it is. I really liked the idea of this story and decided to make it into a chapter fic now that I have my other ones completed. So although the beginning may appear the same I have made some major tweaks and obviously extended it.**

 **Since I am in school full time, working full time and have a life outside of fanfiction I will not set a weekly date for the updates. But I will tell you that I have already written this chapter plus a couple of others so I will space them out accordingly to how long it takes me to write the chapters after that.**

 **Sorry for any mistakes I missed. It's a really long chapter and no matter how many times I went through it I still may have missed something.**

 **Anyways I hope you all enjoy it and I want to thank** **inizhay** **for pre-reading a few of my chapters and giving me input and reassuring me that this fic is not garbage. Without her I would probably have left this fic in a folder, never to see the light of day.**

* * *

 **Cobra POV**

"Oh god, oh god! Is someone out there? HELP US!"

"I-I can't breathe. It hurts s-s-s-so much. N-ne-need help..." Someone gasped as they took their last breath, their heartbeat stuttering to a stop.

"Did he just die? Is that what's gonna happen to us?" Another person shouted.

"Will someone shut them up? I'm trying to die in peace over here!" Another prisoner yelled.

"How can you just accept your death so easily? We need to find a way out of here. No one has come down to check on us since the explosions happened up above, which most likely means the council members and guards are all dead. We should take advantage of this and escape!" Somebody shouted from across the wrecked room.

The prisons had suffered severe damage a few days ago when a series of explosions rocked the building above us. The lights, heat, and air had instantly shut off when the power lacrimas had been hit by a giant boulder that had been covered in blood. It had fallen through the ceiling, knocking away several of the cells as it came. Those unlucky mages that were in those cells, didn't survive and were shocked to death because the prison sphere assumed they were trying to escape. As for those who survived they didn't survive for long as one by one they died off from their injuries, and suicide. _Those fuckers gave up way too easily, if they'd been on the Tower of Heaven they wouldn't have lasted a single night._

Only seven mages - well six now since that one just died- remained after nearly four days of these conditions; no food, no water, no heat. Everything they had come to take for granted was gone in a blink of an eye. If things didn't change soon or if they didn't escape they wouldn't last for long. It didn't help their situation that the air was getting thinner and thinner and that the carbon dioxide in the air was rising. Hence the hysteric yelling, not to mention the others who thought they were talking to their loved ones.

Shaking my head I chuckled. _Carbon dioxide poisoning at its finest._

"What the hell are you laughing about you one eyed freak?" The optimist of the bunch yelled.

"You're all gonna die." I snickered. Their thoughts were flooded with fear and uncertainty. The fools still thought that someone was bound to come save them, but who was going to search through the rubble for criminals who were supposed to be here for life, no one, that's who.

"Even if w-we do you're going down w-w-with us. You're in the same c-c-condition w-w-we're in." Some lady stuttered, her teeth chattering in the cold.

Turning my head towards her I barred my teeth. "I'm nothing like you sniveling cowards. Since the power lacrimas were destroyed days ago the carbon dioxide in this room has increased, you're all being poisoned by it. If you continue to breathe it in, and if the levels continue to rise you'll be dead by the end of the week."

"Bastard! Why didn't you tell us that sooner?"

"And what would you have done? Panicked some more and waste what little oxygen is left? Anyways I didn't want to deal with all of the yelling and screaming and praying to gods that don't exist. I've already had to turn off part of my powers so I wouldn't go insane with your thoughts floating in my head." I growled, laying back down on the bed, staring at the cracked ceiling above the sphere I had called home for the past six months.

"Well I still don't know why you think you'll survive while we won't. You haven't had any food or water either and have been breathing the same air as all of us."

Sighing heavily I banged my head on the pillow beneath my head at his stupidity. "Poison. Dragon. Slayer. You idiot the carbon dioxide is food to me. The only thing I'm missing is water, and I can survive without it for a couple of more weeks. Now shut up and leave me alone, your annoying thoughts are pressing against my skull." I said closing my eye to everyone's horrified stares. Unable to prevent every thought from invading my mind my headache grew until I fell asleep.

Days later, I wasn't sure how many had passed all of the annoying buzzing in my head had trickled off into blessed silence. I was grateful that poisons were food for me, but it wouldn't last me much longer, especially when I hadn't had water in so long. Going in and out of consciousness I heard scuttling outside of my cell and saw rats nibbling at the corpses that had been released - once all signs of life ceased within the cell it had opened up, dropping the remains on the ground. Closing my eye I passed out again only to be woken up by thoughts invading my head.

 _Oh my god what is that awful stench?_

 _Are they all dead? Were we too late?_

 _Geez it smells worse than Happy's fish when he leaves it in his backpack too long._

"Over here! I hear a faint heartbeat!" A familiar voice sounded as a click echoed thoughout the area and the cell around me opened up, dropping me into a pair of cold hard arms. Once I was set onto the ground I felt small, cool hands touch my face and then my neck to feel my weak pulse. "He's alive! Get me some water, quick!"

 _Damn its Cobra, why'd he have to be the one to survive, he's tried to kill us too many times._

"Gray stop standing there glaring at him and get me water." The blue haired girl growled her hands turning warm as I felt my skin repairing itself.

"Yeah, sorry Wendy." He said as I heard faint footsteps approach the space I had been trapped in for god knows how long.

"Wendy do we really want to help him? He tried to kill us more than once and kidnapped you." _After what he did to Lucy I don't think I can forgive him. Just let him go so we can go check the other rooms._

"Erza, how can you ask me such a thing? Every life is precious, and I'm not going to sit around and let him die when I can save him." _Don't worry I won't leave you here to die._ The mini Slayer thought, stroking my hair as I felt her magic pulse though me some more.

Sensing another presence in the room I listened intently only to hear silence from them. _How..?_ I thought turning toward the figure, cracking my eye open as I did. _Lucy_.

"Erza, Gray go help Natsu. I'll help Wendy." She said stepping beside the healer. "Wendy is right, e-every life is precious no matter who it is." Picking up the canteen of water she brought it to my lips, only for me to cough it up, onto her. I expected the blonde to be pissed off, but seeing her face I could tell she wasn't pissed off in the slightest she simply wiped the expelled water off of her face and tried again. The second attempt was no better than the first as I started choking and had to be turned onto my side so the water would run out of my tired mouth. I thought for sure she would give up trying to give me the water that I craved. _She owed me nothing, the others were right I kidnapped the pint sized slayer, and the blonde. Not only that we created Michelle to fool her. She, more than anyone should hate me and happily leave me to my death._

But again I was surprised as I watched weakly while Lucy set the water aside before she brought a jagged rock to the bottom of her shirt and cut the already short piece of cloth shorter. Balling up the strip of fabric she pressed it against the opening of the canteen and poured the water until it had soaked the fabric. I felt myself being re-positioned onto my back but I continued to watch the blonde as the water dripped over her fingers. I licked my cracked lips in thirst, and stared transfixed on the piece of cloth as she brought it to my mouth. Urging my mouth open a tiny bit she squeezed the water into my mouth a little bit at a time so I wouldn't choke again.

"But Lucy..." The red head said taking a step closer as if to protect the blond from me.I rolled my eye at the protective gesture, it wasn't l _ike I could do anything in the state I was in._

"Go, he won't hurt us will he?" She asked looking down at me, she didn't even wait for my answer before she continued issuing orders to her team. "Actually Wendy you go with them, there might be other survivors that need more than water, and you've already restored some of his strength so that should be enough until we get him back to the guild. I'll stay and watch over him." The blonde said re-soaking the piece of fabric and bringing it to my mouth again.

Sensing how serious she was they left without another word of complaint, but I heard each threat, and worried thought they had as they left, glancing back at her in concern. According to them she had been acting differently since the fight with Tartarus, whatever that was. Really looking at her for the first time she got here I could see what they meant. Her usually vibrant gold soul was a dull yellow with a black streak down the middle as if something had broken her. Even though I couldn't read her thoughts I could sense the pain that wafted off of her, as if it was the only thing she felt.

"Cobra... Erik, you can trust me I won't them do anything to harm you and definitely won't let them leave you here to rot." She whispered brushing my hair out of my face. "I'm not going to lose someone else."

I stated at her in confusion. _Did they lose someone? Why is she being so forgiving?_ Were my last thoughts as I slipped into unconsciousness.

 **Lucy POV**

"Lucy, but why?" Natsu whined looking heartbroken. Happy was in his arms letting his tears flow freely as he stared at me.

"It's for the best right now. I can't work with you guys, or anyone for that matter for a while. Give me some time and maybe we can reform our team but I make no promises." I said tiredly. For the past hour I had been saying the same thing over and over, telling them that I couldn't be a part of their team anymore, that I didn't want to work with others. I just needed space, but they didn't know why. No one besides my spirits knew.

Just thinking about the reason, the broken key that was safely tucked away in my apartment had me near tears and I knew that I had to cut this short.

"Lucy I demand to know what your reasoning is." Erza said crossing her arms and giving me her most fierce disapproving glare.

"I told you already-."

"Yeah we know. You need 'space' and 'time'." Gray said using air quotes. His clothes had already been shed in the first ten minutes of this conversation but no one had noticed. The whole guild was pretending not to listen into our conversation, but I would catch them all looking over at us when they thought I couldn't see them.

"Yes and as my friends, my family, I expect you to accept my wishes even if they don't make sense to you. I have tried to be nice about all of this but you are making it very hard at this point. Please just leave it alone and let me work on my own for a while." I said, cutting off their responses by turning away from them and heading up the stairs to the infirmary.

Once I was safely in there I slammed the door shut and locked it before they could follow me in here. Sliding down the door I put my head on my knees and willed my headache and tears to abate.

"Well that was… interesting." Cobra said from across the room.

Glancing up at him I noticed that he hadn't said that to be mean, or to lead into an insult, instead it was meant to be an opening if I wanted or needed to talk, which I didn't. Smiling weakly at him I stood up and made my way to the chair by his bed and sat down.

"They'll get over it eventually." I said, knowing it was a lie and by the scoff that came from him he knew it too.

"If their thoughts alone are any indication they won't be getting over it anytime soon. In fact that ice freak and hot head are plotting how to get you back as we speak…oh they're also planning on breaking into your house in about an hour." Groaning at what he said I slapped my forehead before getting up from the chair.

"I'll be right back." I said heading towards the door. "Would you like anything while I'm out there?" I turned around waiting for his answer.

Every once in a while he would get this suspicious look on his face when I asked him something or was overly nice to him, but after a couple of weeks in my care he was learning that it wasn't all some ploy to get him to trust me so I could hurt him more. When his suspicious nature flared up, I just calmly and patiently waited for him to get over it before he eventually answered me.

"Another jug of bleach." He said tersely. Nodding that I heard him I opened and closed the door behind me. But before the door was closed all the way I heard him mumble something. "If I didn't need poison to survive I'd worry about that demon downstairs trying to off me with the food she keeps sending up to me."

Shaking my head at that I made a mental note to start ordering his food as if it were for me so he could actually experience Mira's awesome cooking. Leaning over the railing I waved at Mira to get her attention. "Can you get me a jug of bleach and a strawberry smoothie please? I'll come down and get it in a minute." I said, smiling when I saw her try to hide a small scowl as she nodded and turned away.

With that done I headed over to the Raijinshū's table, squeezing in between Laxus and Freed when I got there. Grumbling Laxus scoot over so I had enough space and glared at me. Sticking out my tongue at him I turned to Freed. "Hey Freed do you think you can head to my house and put up some wards to keep my te- ex-team out of my apartment? Cobra says they plan on sneaking in, in about an hour and I'd like to not have to kill them." I asked sweetly, leaning in closely to him so Natsu wouldn't accidentally overhear.

Bickslow and Ever snickered at me, but I ignored them. Having spent the past couple of weeks up here taking care of Cobra I was bound to get close to these guys considering they were the only ones up here, and surprisingly we got along pretty well. I didn't want to talk, they didn't want to talk. It worked out perfectly. The only company I preferred other than theirs was Cobra's but I didn't want to crowd him too much, with my thoughts and with my presence so I made a point to leave him alone for a few hours out of the day… not that I really wanted to.

Without all of the snarky comments, attempts to kill me and my friends, and plots to take over the world he was pretty nice to be around. He was also smart, well read and played a mean game of chess. I was grateful for the distraction, but I knew that he would be completely recovered by the end of the week and would want to set out on his own, well at least under supervision while the Wizard Saints attempted to rebuild the council. Thinking that he would leave as soon as possible I planned on heading out on a job at the end of the week because I didn't want to have to say goodbye.

"Lucy." Freed said shaking my shoulder.

Jerking my attention to him I flushed when I realized they were all watching me strangely. "Sorry, was thinking about the job I wanted to take." I explained, not entirely lying.

"I was saying that I'll head over to your apartment now if you'd give me a key I will have the runes up in no time." Digging the key from my pocket I handed it to him and thanked him before getting up.

"Hey Blondie." Laxus said, catching my attention before I went downstairs. "If you want…we can go on that job with you."

I was shocked at the offer, I didn't think we had grown that close in the past couple of weeks. "Thanks, but this is something I have to do on my own." I said smiling at them all and waving.

* * *

 **Cobra POV**

 _Why is he here?_

 _Isn't he the one that tried to kill us twice?_

 _How can Lu-chan be so calm sitting next to him?_

 _What happened to Lucy? First she quits Team Natsu and starts sitting with the Poison Dragon Slayer? Hell they don't even talk, the two of them just sit there doing their own thing._

"They have a point Luce, you could easily read at any other table." I said calling her by the name I had given her when I was drugged and recovering. I had fallen asleep mid-sentence with her and winded up calling her Luce and it just stuck.

"You don't look at me as if I might off myself at any minute. They just want their old, smiling Lucy back and I can't give that to them. That girl is gone." She said her head still in the book she had gotten from her last mission. Anytime she was in the guild now she had a book that she used to block out everyone.

"Is that why I can't get a read on you? I see your soul just fine, but the pain you're in erected a barricade around your mind." I asked. I had wanted to know how she was blocking me ever since they had rescued me.

"Good." She said, clearly wanting this conversation to be over.

 _What the hell am I thinking? Why am I so concerned about her...it's because she stayed by my side while I was recovering wasn't it? Constantly helping me when no one else wanted to, and protecting me from the malice intent of her guild members when I walked around the town, tired of seeing the walls cage me in._

Abruptly standing up I saw her whip her head around as I walked past her and out of the guild.

' _Yeah that's right, leave and never come_ _back'_ , was the general consensus of the guild when I walked out of the guild letting the doors slam closed behind me. Their sentiment hadn't changed much since I started hanging around the guild a few months back. Even though I wasn't wanted there buy the majority of the guild there were a few who didn't care one way or another as long as I didn't do something to hurt the guild again…mainly as long as I didn't target Lucy.

I cringed, weren't they all supposed to be forgiving or some shit? I wasn't the only one in that building to have hurt them, yet I was the only one they seemed to actively hate. But Lucy was different. Hell after the Infinity Clock I'm surprised she endured my presence in her guild, let alone seek out my company.

 _Maybe they were right I should leave, I was becoming too attached to a certain blonde. I could always go to the other guilds where they were housing MacBeth, Sorano and Richard…_ I thought stomping down the street. The guilds had thought that it'd be best that we weren't in the same guild so we couldn't plan anything against them. _Pshh like I'd go against these losers after they saved me and after being defeated by them twice_. I wasn't in denial, if they hadn't shown up when they did I would have died of dehydration. Shaking my head I looked up when I came to a stop to see that I had followed the blonde's scent to her apartment.

 _Too damned attached. Of course I'd choose someone who could never return the feeling._ I thought pathetically, jumping to her windowsill and pulling it open.

 **Lucy POV**

 _He was acting strange lately. Giving me strange glances but they were different than the rest of the guilds' look of concern. I wonder what he's thinking._ I thought staring blankly at the page I had been on for the past ten minutes. I was too focused on trying to decipher Cobra's glances. When I had returned from my first solo mission a few months back I was surprised to see that he was still at the guild. He had taken up residence at the Raijinshū's table, all of them silently watching everyone else. But when I had returned we had wound up sitting together at a table and it had stuck. While everyone thought that we didn't talk what they didn't know is that we hung out outside of the guild.

It was nothing special, at least to him it wasn't, but it was nice. We just talked about his plans, or lack thereof. How he missed fighting, his weekly fights with Natsu not enough to release the pent up energy he had but Mira wouldn't let him go on a job for the guild since he still hadn't joined. I wish he would join already, then we could go on a job together, something I know my old team would be upset with but at this point I didn't care anymore. If I wasn't with my spirits, I was with Cobra and I liked it.

"Hey Lucy want to go on a job with us?" My old team asked as they walked up to the table.

"No thanks." I said sparing them a glance before returning to my book about Celestial Magic.

"Lucy please tell us what has happened, you've been so distant since the fight. Is this about your break up?" Erza said sitting down beside me, reaching to touch my back. Flinching away from her touch I stood up, knocking the table as I did gaining everyone's attention.

"No! Of course not. I gotta go." I said trying to get past them so I could lock myself in my apartment like I've done so many times before.

"No wait Lucy. She's right, everyone is worried about you we just want to help." Natsu said grabbing my hand to stall my escape.

"You can help by leaving me alone. I'll sort it out on my own." Yanking my hand from his, I booked it out of the guild. Running down the street not really looking where I was going, following the path back home on autopilot. When I turned down my street I slammed into Cobra's back right outside of my apartment. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

"Just snooping." He shrugged nodding to my open apartment window.

"How'd you get in? Freed set up runes to keep all guild members out!" I cried running inside the building to see what he had done.

"I'm not a member yet." He said following me up the stairs.

Looking around my apartment I didn't see a single thing out of place, except for the shadow box I had been working on. "That's why you've been acting strange isn't it?"

"Why? Why do you care?" I whispered running my fingers over one of the pictures of Aquarius and I when I was six.

"I don't know I just do." I didn't notice him walk up to my side until he lifted up my key pouch. "You're missing one. Sorano ranted about them for ages, so I know you should have ten gold keys, but you're missing one."

Letting loose a sob I quickly covered my mouth and backed away from him. "Why couldn't you just leave it be? I was handling it!" I shouted falling onto my couch. Kneeling down in front of me he grabbed a hold of my hand and made me look at him. I didn't want to though so I looked right over his shoulder into the kitchen to spite him but he just moved his head in my way forcing the issue.

"You're not handling anything, at least not the right way. When you first rescued me your soul was a dull yellow, since then it's been getting darker and darker. When it turns completely black, filled with your anger and pain you'll do one of two things. Either you'll be consumed by your anger and resort to killing everyone you blame for what happened or your pain will take over and you'll kill yourself."

"What does it matter to you what I do?" I whispered, not bothering to deny the possibility of me killing myself; the thought had crossed my mind on several occasions but then I always decided against it because of my other spirits. If I died I knew they would be pissed off, and that Aquarius' sacrifice would be in vain because she had told me to break her key to save my life.

"It just does." He said looking away from me, his cheeks filling with blood to make them look pink.

"Yeah but why?" I asked, needing to know. He didn't speak a single word, but when he turned back to look at me I saw it in his eye. The concern, hope and something else I couldn't place. Lost in what I was saw in his eye, I wasn't aware that we both had leaned forward until our noses bumped. Despite how close we were neither one of us moved to create space. Tilting his head to the side while keeping eye contact with me he brought his lips to mine in a gentle kiss. Something I hadn't been expecting. But all too soon he broke the contact and waited for my reaction. Without thinking about it I grabbed the back of his head and brought our lips together again. I had felt something, a spark, a flicker of emotion other than pain flow through me when we first touched, and it only grew stronger when he had kissed me.

At first he didn't do anything, just let me have control of the kiss but when my tongue traced the seam of his lips and urge his mouth open I heard and felt him growl. Taking control of the kiss he pressed against me and shoved his tongue into my mouth. I grasped his shoulders desperately trying to get him closer than he already was but with me sitting down and him kneeling it was impossible. Sensing my frustration he got his feet under him and wrapped his arms around me and hauled me up with him as he stood up. Not breaking the kiss for a moment he hiked me up a little bit higher to align us so his arousal was pushing against me causing shivers of pleasure to course through my body. Moving his hands from my back to my butt he kneaded them and urged my hips to move.

It was good thing he was so strong otherwise I'd be worried about him dropping me or us falling to the floor hard but the muscles beneath my hands reassured me that I was safe in his arms.

"More Cobra." I groaned wanting more from him than kisses. But instead of giving me what I wanted he continued to kiss and bite my neck. I knew that I'd end up with hickies when we were through but I didn't care.

"Erik." He growled, lifting his mouth from my neck to look into my face.

Wrapping my legs around his waist I kept eye contact as I pressed into him. "Erik." I repeated after him but in a soft voice. "I need more Erik." I said leaning into his neck so I could gently bite him. Licking the spot I had just bitten I kissed up his neck to his ears. When I licked the rim of his ears I felt him shudder beneath me and his grip tightened on my butt. Smiling to myself I continued to play with his ear, trying to drive him crazy with need so we could move forward. It wasn't until I moved to his other ear and started nibbling on it that he let me rock my hips against his again.

"I want you." I whispered into his ear. At the whispered admission he turned his head and bit down on my neck harder than before. Releasing is teeth form my skin he kissed me hard and walked us the few feet to my bed and sat down on it. We continued to make out for a few minutes just rocking against each other until he stopped and pulled away from me suddenly.

"Lucy...we need to stop." He said panting as I shifted my attention to his ears again. Each suckle to his lobe had him gasping and moving his hips in a way that created a delicious sensation. "Lucy really we have to talk."

"I don't want to talk Erik. After." I promised moving to rain kisses on his neck as I made my way to his other ear. "For now, make me forget." I whispered a moment before he gripped my hips, grinding into me. Releasing the hold I had on his ear I threw my head back and moaned. Holding onto his shoulders as he continued to rock his hips into mine. Wanting to feel his skin against mine I yanked at the bottom of his shirt, maneuvering it up and off of him. Tossing his shirt aside my hands ran up and down his chest, tracing the ridges of his six pack as my hand found its way to the top of his pants. Glad that he was wearing sweats instead of his usual jeans I dipped my hand down into them brushing against his member. Hearing his breath hitch a second before my world shifted and a tearing sound resonated throughout my apartment as I felt a gust of wind blow against my skin.

"Fuck Luce." He said racking his gaze over my body.

Any other time I would have been upset about my dress being destroyed but I was too far gone to care. All that matter at the moment was Co-Erik as his lips descended upon mine in a hungry kiss. "Erik." I moaned into his mouth. Looking up at him from my position on the bed. Removing the torn dress pieced out from under me I tossed them to the side of the bed before hooking my legs around his hips again, but he didn't move.

Unhooking my legs from around him he rose to his knees and looked down at me after giving me one last lingering kiss. "You got one last chance to stop this Luce."

"If I wanted you to stop I wouldn't still be beneath you." I panted, taking this time to catch my breath. Staring into his eye I showed him how serious I was. "Take off the rest Erik." I said reaching behind me to unclasp my bra. Lying there in just my purple lace underwear that I knew wouldn't survive when he finally decided to act. My hands played with the exposed hair at the top of his sweats and gave them gentle tug. "Now."

 **Cobra POV**

Staring down at her I berated myself for giving her the chance to stop this. I didn't want to stop, I'd been playing this scenario out in my head for months, since I came to the guild and to finally have it happening was too good to be true.

"... Take off the rest Erik. Now." She said pulling at my hair and eliciting gasp from me. Growling as she racked her nails up my chest until they reach my nipples so she could roll them between her fingers I kicked off my pants and boxers before returning to the bed. I watched as she inched up the bed so her feet weren't hanging off of the edge and stalked after her playfully. When my head hovered beneath her panty clad pussy I lowered my mouth to the purple lace and tore them from her with my teeth. I was about to explore the glistening lips of her core when I felt a hand in my hair tugging my head upwards.

"Later." She said breathlessly. Shaking her hand free I gave the lips a longing look before giving it a brief promising lick. Creating a path of kisses up her body, paying extra attention to her breasts until I had her gasping and wiggling beneath me. Her hands were on my head again trying to urge me to complete my journey upwards, letting her drag me up I chuckled when she attacked my lips with her soft lips. Keeping one hand on her breast I let the other one trail down to the neatly trimmed hair between her thighs. Following the strip I brushed against her drenched lips, making her squirm even more, before I plunged one in. Gasping she lifted her hips as I pulled my finger out only to plunge it back in with an additional finger.

Capturing her moans with my mouth I continued to finger her, adding another finger when I felt her walls spasm in anticipation.

"Please." She gasped lifting her hips into my fingers. "I want it all-" she moaned, tilting her head back as I pumped my fingers into her harder and faster. "Erik-." Twisting my fingers within her, stretching her with my fingers some more until I didn't feel as much resistance. When her breathing kicked up a notch I latched onto her neck and ground the heel of my palm into her clit until she screamed her release.

Lifting up from her I removed my fingers from her soaked core and brought them to my mouth, licking them clean. All the while she stared at me with a stated smile until she leaned up to lick my lips, tasting herself.

Growling at her I rubbed my erection against her nether lips while I kissed her. I released her lips with a gasp as her wandering hand gently gripped me and stroked. I lined myself up with her entrance, and pushed in, only letting the tip enter her."Luce..." I whispered waiting for her to open her eyes.

Seeing those brown orbs blink open to stare straight into my eye I focused on her, in reality giving her one last chance to stop this. But what I saw urged me on to continue. Her soul was no longer drenched in murky yellows, dark grays and black instead hints of her radiant gold soul shone through the cracks, slowly taking over. Giving it a shot I opened myself up to her and tried to catch a thought from her mind. At first I heard nothing and I was disappointed, but then a faint buzzing appeared.

Rocking against her to get her going again the buzzing grew louder, and turned into a faint whisper. _I need you Erik._ Her soul cried out to me. Groaning as she tried to get her hips free of my hold so she could move them I adjusted so my legs were entwined with her so she was firmly contained. _Why won't you move?_ "Erik, please do something!" She gasped, my shallow thrusts driving her insane.

Glad that this is what she really wanted, and that I was driving her crazy I decided to end both of our miseries and lifted my hips before slamming into her. "Yes..." She moaned lifting her head to mine to capture my lips.

 _Faster Erick. Harder!_

Complying with her wishes I lifted one of her legs up and shifted my hips up in another angle, brushing up against a spot that made her gush each time I thrust in. _Yes, yes, yes!_

Pulling my lips from hers I bit her ear. "I want to hear your voice Luce, not just your thoughts. Scream for me!" I growled, slamming in even harder.

"Ahhh! Luce -" I gasped at how she was clamping around me and picked up speed once again feeling her walls begin their tiny spasms. Removing one hand from her firm breast I rolled the ball of nerves in my fingers, gently scraping it with the tip of my nail.

"Erik!" She groaned gripping my back.

Feeling how close the both of us were by the spasms of her walls and my loss of my rhythm I slowed down to drag out the pleasure for a little bit more. But when her nails racked across my back, and she tried to take control put on one last burst of speed and slammed home three more times before her back bowed and she screamed my name in pleasure. Digging her nails into my skin she rode out the waves of ecstasy, as I pulled out of her to the tip and slammed back into her once more, groaning as I released myself into her. Clamping my mouth around one of her breasts I bit down, as we continued to cum.

Turning over so Luce was now on top so I wouldn't crush her I released my hold on her and licked the teeth marks that graced her breast. _I like seeing my mark on you._ I thought playing with the strands of her hair as our breathing slowed down and our eyes closed.

* * *

 **An: Let me know what you thought. Please and thank you.**


	2. Chapter 2

****EDITED 5/18****

 **An: Chapter two! I am warning you that I may have missed some mistakes but that's alright because I'm not perfect. Again thanks to inizhay for reading this earlier and giving me input, I really appreciate it!**

 **Enjoy!**

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 **Cobra POV**

Waking up with Luce still on top of me, our bodies having been dislodged sometime during the night, I gently stroked her hair out of her face to see her sleeping peacefully. Something I don't think she's done for a while now judging by the bags under her eyes. When she shifted on top of me I froze not wanting to disturb her sleep, but I didn't have to worry about that because she settled down and cuddled up to me.

"Eerik." She mumbled in her sleep before falling silent again with a smile on her face.

I smiled at her and brushed my mind against hers to see what she was dreaming about that had her saying my name, but I stopped short when my mind met that fucking wall of hers. Glaring, I looked at her soul to see that the gold had faded once again.

 _Damn it Luce, what happened to you to make you this way?_ I thought absentmindedly stroking her hair while looking up at the ceiling. _We'll have to find some way to fix whatever is bothering you._ When she moved again, adjusting her legs this time I finally noticed the stickiness that was between our legs and cringed. _We forgot to use protection, that'd have to be something else we talked about today._

Gently rolling her off of me to lay her down on the bed I quietly got up and padded to the bathroom. Rummaging through her drawers I found a stack of towels and took them out, setting them on the counter as I continued to look for wash cloths. Finding them, I wet one with warm water and soap and washed away the evidence of last night's escapades then tossed it into the hamper by the wall. Wetting and soaping up another one I walked back to Lucy and gently stroked her clean unintentionally making her moan in her sleep and her hips lift up, following the towel when I took it away. Using another towel that was half wet and half dry I wiped away the soap and dried her quickly before tossing those on the floor.

During my ministrations she had moaned and thrust her hips up sending my good intentions out the window. Smirking as I watched one of her hands descend down her body I quickly replaced the towels with my finger, entering her and pumping the digit in and out a few of times, stalling her hand and causing her to moan loudly. Lowering my head down as I fingered her I licked at her lips hungrily and played with her clitoris. Inserting another finger I continued to tease her as I fingered her. Feeling her juices gush on my hand I removed my fingers and plunging my tongue inside of her. Leisurely I fucked her with my tongue enjoying the taste of her juices as they poured out of her and into my waiting mouth. Sucking and stroking her I held her butt up to get a better angle and my tongue in deeper.

"ERIK!" She groaned loudly, her body thrashing above me but when I looked up her eyes were still closed. Withdrawing my tongue so I could suck on her clit I watched to see if she would finally notice that she was not dreaming, but I still got nothing from her.

Accepting the challenge she had unintentionally set forth I inserted my fingers back into her and worked my way up to her body, to her breasts to nibble and suck on them, paying more attention to her nipples when I felt her back arch a little into my mouth. A second later her hips began moving in time with my fingers, trying to get me to go faster. Not giving into her until she opened her eyes I resumed my slow and steady pace. Hearing her quiet growl I grinned into her breast and waited to see those brown eyes look down at me. When they finally did the look in them was a mixture of lust, and frustration.

Releasing her nipple with an audible pop I brought my mouth to hers for a quick peck before hovering over her. "Good morning." I smirked down at her, enjoying the look she had when I pumped my fingers into her harder.

"Goo…good morning." She gasped, licking her lips. "I thought we were supposed to talk." She said distractedly.

"Oh we will. But I thought we should start the day off right. Any. Objections?" I asked increasing the speed of my fingers and rubbing my erection over her clit.

"No. No object-." She cut herself off to gasp as I replaced my fingers with my cock in a quick thrust. "Kiss me." She demanded when she could speak again. Smirking I did as she asked all the while rocking inside of her. When I started driving into her she shook her head and broke the kiss, confusing me. "Not this way." She said pushing me away from her before turning over and grabbing the head board on her knees. Looking over her shoulder she raised her brow at me as if asking me what was taking so long to return to her.

She didn't have to ask me twice. In the next second I was behind her holding onto her hips with both of my hands and pulling her back to meet my thrust. The sounds of our groans filled the apartment as I plunged into her repeatedly, harder with each thrust until I thought I had hurt her when she let out a loud scream. Stopping suddenly I pulled out apologizing.

"Luce are you okay, I'm sorry I lost control." I said turning her head to look at her face.

"I'm fine, that was perfect Erik." She said breathlessly grinding herself on me. When I still didn't move, she opened her eyes. "I'm serious, that was perfect. It did hurt a little, but it was a good hurt."

Eye widening a bit I grinned at her. "Like a little pain do you?" I asked teasingly.

"I didn't think I did…but that was amazing." Lucy grinned back at me, nipping my nose to get me going.

Without warning I thrust back into her, and took her hard. Grabbing a handful of hair I made her arch back. Groaning she fought a little but eventually gave up and let me pull her farther back so I could dominate her mouth. Our tongues dueled for dominance as I rammed into her, my pace quickening as our breathing grew erratic. Shoving her head away and down into the pillows I angled myself to thrust deeper into her and brush against the spot that had her gasping with each stroke. Reaching between her legs I lightly flicked her clitoris with my finger before rubbing it gently between my finger and thumb. The added stimulus elicited a scream from her, as she tightened around me. Her orgasm brought on my own and I threw my head back and groaned and she milked me of my cum. When the last of her spasms ended I pulled out of her and laid down beside her, dragging her spent body into mine.

"We forgot a condom again." I mumbled into her hair after a few minutes of silence. She stilled for a moment before shrugging.

"I'm on the pill…went on it when- just during my last relationship." She said stiffly. "I'm clean though…although Dragon Slayers don't have to worry about most diseases."

At the thought of her with someone else I growled and pulled her closer. "How do you know Slayers don't need to worry about them?" I asked, even though I didn't want to know.

"Last relationship." She said with a shrug, still tense.

Rubbing my nose in her hair I inhaled her scent and relaxed a bit when I smelled myself mingled with her. "Who was it?" She sighed at the question, turning over to look at me and stroke the hair out of my face.

"Is this part of our talk?" She asked not quite meeting my eye.

"It is now." I answered watching her through my narrowed eye. In the four months I had been to the guild I hadn't smelled anyone on her, and had seen no sign that she hung out with anyone besides me or the Raijinshū.

She sighed again. "Can we shower first before we start this talk? Not using a condom has its drawbacks…like the mess it leaves behind." Nodding once I opened my arms to let her shuffle to the bathroom. When she got to the door she looked back at me. "You can join me if you want. I'm a little sore after that so we'd just be showering, nothing more."

I waited for the water to turn on and for her to step into the shower before I got out of the bed. Looking down at the sheets I stripped the bed and brought the dirty sheets into the bathroom to put them into the hamper. When she saw me come into the bathroom she stepped closer to the spray of water and opened the shower curtain for me to enter. Stepping through the opening I quickly closed the curtains to keep in the warm air, since I saw goosebumps across her shoulders.

Taking the soap from her hands I lathered the pink mesh ball she had been scrubbing herself with and worked on her back, down to her legs. Even though we weren't doing more than washing up I still left a few lingering touches as I washed her. When I was done, some areas having been washed multiple times because I had 'missed' a spot, I poured shampoo into my hands and washed her hair as I massaged her head. Turning her around after I finished I rinsed off her hair.

While I did that she was already washing my chest with her pink ball, kneeling down when she decided to work on my legs as well. After a few times swiping water out of her eyes I turned away the spray of water so it was hitting her back. Smiling up at me she diligently cleaned my legs, avoiding the spot that obviously wanted attention. Every time she would get close to my cock she would circle my legs to work on the back of them. Holding back a growl of disappointment as she stood up and began working on my back I stood under the water to try to focus on something else besides her hands caressing my body.

"Turn around." She said evenly, when she hung the pink ball on a hook by her shampoo. Doing as she said I turned around to rise off my back, only to find her on her knees her head level with my erection. I stared transfixed as she ran her hands up my thighs stopping short of my cock. "I may not be able to do anything about myself right now, but I could help you out." She said with a smirk before circling her hands around me.

 **Lucy POV**

I looked up at him watching as his breath hitched when I stroked him. Moving my hands to the base of him I continued with shallow strokes as I lowered my head to take the tip of him into my mouth. Experimentally I licked at the slit at the head and tasted the precum that leaked out. When I sucked on the head I watched as his eye dilated and he leaned his head back.

Wanting to taste more of him I slowly took the rest of him in my mouth, holding his hips in place when he began rocking to thrust deeper. I wasn't able to get all of him in, and my mouth was stretched wide due to his girth but it wasn't uncomfortable. Following the thick vein with my tongue I hollowed out my mouth and sucked on him before I started bobbing up and down his length. After a few pumps I released my hold on his hips to play with his balls, rolling them in my hand. He groaned when my nails gently scored over the sensitive skin and his hands found their way to my hair so he could increase the speed, and thrust in a little bit deeper.

Gagging at the unexpected length I squeezed his balls a little to get him to stop.

"Shit, sorry." He gasped. I coughed a little, loosening my hold on his balls.

"It was just unexpected." I said before returning his hands to my head as I peppered kisses up his cock before taking him back into my mouth. This time, however I went further than before until I reached the base of him and he was part way down my throat. Holding myself there for a moment I got used to the feeling so it wouldn't be so surprising later on and slowly withdrew. Looking up at him I saw him watching me, so I gave him a wink and nodded at him as I sucked at him enthusiastically. With my nod of consent he thrust into my mouth, setting the pace to fast.

I let him guide my head, enjoying the bit of pain that came from his tight grip. His hold on my head tightened when I moaned around him at the look in his eye. Without looking away from him I lowered my hand to my core and played with myself. He growled as he saw my hand disappear and I tasted more of him as it leaked out, warning me that he was close. Massaging his balls with one hand I tugged them, urging him to cum.

Feeling my own walls spasm I fingered myself faster and rubbed my clit with my thumb until I fell over the edge and gushed onto my hands. My eyes widening at my pleasure, I groaned and sunk myself deeper onto him until he was touching the back of my throat again. Pushing him deeper still I swallowed and watched as his eye rolled back at the feeling. Releasing him I took control and bobbed my head faster and deeper while stroking him with my tongue.

With one last squeeze of his balls he erupted inside of my mouth. His load shooting to the back of my throat as I greedily swallowed it without releasing him. When I felt him shudder, and the last spray of cum burst forth from him I removed my mouth from around him and licked him clean. Kissing the tip of him when I was all done I gently released him and stood up, swiping the little bit of semen that had escaped my mouth with my finger and then licking it clean as I maintained eye contact with him.

Licking my lips I smiled at him and rewashed his member real quick before shutting off the shower and stepping out. Erik followed quickly after me and took over the drying process, wrapping the towel around me and sending me out of the bathroom to get dressed. Leaving him to dry himself I removed the towel from around my body and wrapped my hair in it and left it to sit on my head.

Looking at the torn pieces of my dress I picked them up and tossed them in the waste basket by my desk, on my way to the closet. Remembering that today I wanted to take a job that offered another book on rare magic I picked practical clothing for a change and slipped into a pair of faded blue jeans that had strategic holes on the thighs. Picking a shirt at random I grabbed a plain pink long sleeve shirt out and slipped it on over my white lacy bra. Before closing my closet I grabbed my favorite pair of black boots and a black jacket. Setting the boots and vest down by the door I turned around to see a towel clad Erik watch me from the bathroom.

"Going somewhere?" He asked suspiciously.

Joining him in the bathroom so I could brush my teeth I gave him a quick peck before answering. "I'm taking a job today." I said simply, squeezing toothpaste onto my toothbrush before I began brushing my teeth. He stilled at my answer, watching me.

"Job? But didn't you just come back from one two days ago?" He asked.

"Mhmm buhhht I meeedd oooo ake is one." I said around the toothbrush, watching him through the mirror to see his confused look. Holding up a finger I finished brushing and spit into the sink and rinsed my mouth. "Yeah, but I need to take this one. It has a book I need."

"This part of our talk too?" He asked taking my tooth brush out of my hand to use it. Snatching it away from him I pulled out an unopened spare black one and gave it to him.

"Sorry have to pack that." I said walking away. "And yeah, I guess this falls under our never ending talk."

Flittering this way and that I packed my bag for a week's trip folding everything nicely and arranging it so I still had room for more books if I found any interesting ones. While I did that Erik put on yesterday's clothes and remade my bed with the sheets I had given him.

"Thanks for doing that." I said coming up behind him when he was done and hugging him from behind.

"No problem. Want some breakfast?" He asked placing his hands over mine.

"I'm starving. We'll have to eat out though. I haven't gone grocery shopping since I returned from the last job, and I don't want to go when I'll be gone for a week, maybe more." I shrugged pulling a key off of my belt and summoning Virgo.

"Punishment Princess?" She asked enthusiastically.

Shaking my head in answer I smiled when she pouted. "Can you hold this for me? We are going on another job today." I told her.

"Of course." She said as she bowed and disappeared with the suitcase.

Shutting off all of the lights and locking up my windows I put on my boots and jacket before pulling Erik out of the apartment so I could lock it.

"Come on there is this cute diner down the street, we can talk there." I said. When I let go of his arm and started walking away, he tugged me to a stop and interlaced our fingers. By the look in his eye I could tell that he was asking if the display of affection was allowed. In answer I just smiled at him and squeezed his hand. "We'll talk about us too when we get there."

Walking hand in hand as the sun barely peeked over the horizon we made it to the diner right as the lights inside turned on. _Perfect_. I thought seeing that we were the first people there. Choosing a booth in the back of the diner I tried to sit across from him so I could look at him while we talked, but he had other ideas when he sat in the middle of the bench and dragged me over to him, his arm resting on my shoulder as he looked at the menu. Surprise evident on his face.

"Flaming omelet, ice burger, iron s'mores? What the hell kind of food is this?" He asked aghast.

I laughed. "This is home of Natsu, Gray and Gajeel. The diner likes to make sure they have meals that appeal to everyone, especially the mages here since we sort of co-own this place. It was a way to earn some money when we had just returned after those seven years, right before the Infinity Clock."

He looked a little guilty at the mention of the clock, and tensed up as if expecting me to bash him for his involvement in the whole fiasco, but when I snuggled into his side it disappeared, and was replaced with a small smile. "Here if you flip to the front of the menu you'll find all of the normal food, although I'm pretty sure we have something more to your tastes in here." I said flipping through my own menu before coming upon the page that housed the more dangerous items. "This omelet has the option of snake venom; hmmm there's rattle snake, viper, krait, taipan, seasnake and black tiger. We should have another shipment coming in to add to this list but there isn't a lot of demand for this particular item on account of Kinana being the only one who eats it. Since you've been here for a few months now I also requested that they start stocking bleach as a drink option and put in an order for some of the more poisonous plants." I shrugged, swapping my menu for his so I could look at the normal food.

It wasn't until the waitress asked us what we would like to drink that I noticed he was just staring at me. "What? Do I have something on my face?" I asked reaching up to feel around.

"You do realize that all of these can kill you, or anyone else who eats it right? You have the means to kill everyone in this town because _one_ person likes to eat it." He said tightly.

"Well yeah… but we've already sent out a newsletter telling everyone of the dangers of particular items so they knew that they should avoid them and that the names actually meant what they said. If it makes you feel better all of the dangerous ingredients are locked up, and we have a magical ward around the diner so they can't leave it without myself, Makarov, or Laxus removing it. We also carry the anti-venom…just in case the worst case scenario were to happen."

"Yeah bu- never mind all of that sounds amazing, I haven't had snake venom since I got sent to the council a year ago." He said eyeing the menu and mumbling about the pros and cons of the different type of venoms.

A few minutes later we gave our order to the waiting waitress and waited until she was out of earshot to look at each other seriously. Removing his arm from around my shoulder he turned in his seat to face me, waiting for me to do the same. Bringing my legs up from under the table I bent them onto the bench and leaned my head down on my knees.

"Where to start…" I mumbled into my knees.

"From the beginning would be nice." He answered.

"Well you know about the Tartarus attack already, but what you don't know, what nobody knows besides my spirits and I is that I couldn't hold them off by myself until the others arrived. I tried, oh Mavis how I tried, but it wasn't enough…they were too strong, or I was too weak. Either way the end result was the same. Desperate to give the others more time to get there I summoned a third spirit into battle when I saw that the other two were overwhelmed and that I wasn't doing any damage to the demon I was fighting. I didn't know if it would work, but I had to try. So when I summoned Aquarius I wasn't the only one surprised that it actually worked and that I was still alive.

"Before she could help the others they were overrun and had to go back to the Spirit World, leaving me and Aquarius alone. By then I was completely drained of power and she was barely keeping them at bay by sending wave after wave at them. That was when she told me to summon the King. Yeah, judging by your shock I can tell you know how impossible that should have been. It won't work for every Celestial Mage, mind you, if you decide to tell Sorano, or Angel…whatever name she is going by now.

"Summoning the King… well it comes at a price, a very high price that I didn't want to pay and tried to refuse but Aquarius con…convinced me." I hiccupped as I tried to keep the tears at bay. Inching away from Cobra's hand when he reached out for me I continued on looking down at my boot clad feet. "I had to break her key." I whispered, still horrified that I had done that. That I would never be able to summon her again, to see her. To have her sweep me away with a wave, or berate me for not having a boyfriend as stellar as Scorpio. She was just…gone.

I was silent for a moment, letting the tears fall onto my upturned palms as I stared into nothingness, reliving the moment I felt the key break, the cancellation of our contract and her fading figure as I desperately tried to keep her with me.

"Luce…" I heard him whisper, reaching out to me again and pulling me into his chest. I didn't move just stared at his black shirt.

"The king came, so it wasn't all for nothing I guess. He was able to hold them off, but eventually left when the others arrived. But by then I was running on fumes, and let the other fight as I recharged. Even after everything, the fight, going to the council and returning to the guild I couldn't stand being around people. They all looked at me strangely, constantly asking me what was wrong, and telling me that I should be happy because I was able to distract the demons so the others could get there. But with each reminder of my so called success I fell deeper into my vat of self-loathing, and made it my goal to scour the books for anything on Celestial Magic to see if there was a way to fix the key, that my other spirits didn't know about." I said tiredly, clutching at his shirt. "The guild began to be too much so I quit my team and set off on my own knowing that if they came along they would jeopardize the reward and ask questions that I wasn't ready to answer.

"As for my ex, well he decided that he had picked the wrong girl during the attack and promptly dumped me right before we found you in the council rubble." I shrugged, over the break up. "My heart was already shattered at that point so I didn't really mind, and wished Gajeel and Levy the best. It hurt a little, but as I said before my heart was too broken at that point to fight for him." Looking up at Erik I saw that his face was twisted in anger, and something else I couldn't quite name. Pushing away from him I looked him in the eye. "In the past four months since they've been together I have never felt regret for not fighting for him. We weren't a good fit, not like the two of them are, and I am seriously happy for them and do not want him back."

We stared at each other, him trying to figure out if I was telling the truth and me to hopefully show him that I meant every word. We were so lost in each other that we didn't hear the waitress walk up to our table until she spoke.

"Um I'll just set this down." She mumbled before walking away hurriedly.

"I understand if you don't believe me. But just know that I wouldn't have practically attacked you last night if I still had any hope of getting back together with him. We were only together for a month before the fight anyways." I said turning and scooting away from him so I could start in on my food.

I liked Erik, I really did. But if this was going to turn into some pissing contest I didn't have time for that. My main goal in life right now is to figure out a way to bring Aquarius back to me, and if he was going to hinder that…well then I guess my heart could take another beating. Even though we were only together for one night, I had grown used to his companionship at the guild. I spent more time with him than anyone else in the guild these days, and I'd miss him if he suddenly left. Sighing I took a hefty bite of my spinach omelet.

Without speaking we ate our food in silence. I stole glances over at him to see if he had come to some sort of conclusion, but his face was blank. Still in silence we paid for the food and got up to leave the diner, the total opposite of when we had entered. Walking to the doors I reached out to open them so we could leave when his hand snagged mine and pulled me to a stop and swung me around to face him.

"I won't be a god damned rebound." He growled at me. From the corner of my eye I could see a few people looking at us in curiosity but they quickly returned to their meals when I glared at them. Focusing on Erik and looking him in the eye I responded.

"You're not. You never were." I said honestly. "If I wanted a rebound, which I don't, then there are others that have shown interest in me since the break-up, but I never even gave them a second glance." I wasn't bragging, just being honest again. His eye narrowed at that. "I only told you that because there might be more glares directed towards you when we go in there and I thought you would like to know why."

Neither one of us moved while he searched my eyes for something, when he didn't find what he was looking for I felt and saw his muscles relax. Offering him a small smile I raised myself on my toes and gave him a quick peck on the cheeck before squeezing his hand and stepping back towards the door. As I opened the door and stepped through it he matched his stride with mine and wrapped an arm around my shoulder.

"If I see one of these fuckers approach you I'm poisoning their asses and won't cure them until they're in the last stages of their life." He said leaning down to my ear, biting it sharply when I shook my head and laughed.

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 **An: I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, followed or favorited this fic. :) You are all AWESOME!**

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 **lena babyyyy: Aw thanks! I'm glad you like them all so far! :)**

 **Q'Nisa: Thank you! I've tried lemons before but I wasn't very comfortable writing them, still not entirely sure how I feel about it but I decided to give it a shot during this fic. Hopefully everything goes well!**

 **inizhay: Thanks for the suggestion! It really did help the story and I'm glad I did it. :)**

 **lilkatkat: :) I am trying to keep Cobra, Cobraish but when he's with Lucy I think the real, unpissed off him comes out which I like.**

 **LucyxAnyoneShipper: :)**

 **nikoneko123: I'm definitely continuing it! I'm not entirely sure how long it's going to be but with the first 6 chapters they are all around 5k-7k and I haven't even gotten to the main plot of the story so it might be pretty long but we will see. I hope their little talk helped you see how Lucy felt about the loss and attack, at least somewhat. :)**

 **GemNika: :]**

 **bebelynn: haha thanks! I'm glad everyone seems to like it so far!**

 **awesomegirl3362: I haven't watched or read past Natsu leaving but I did feel that she should have had someone with her through her loss. I felt like her team would have understood and everything but I wanted to mix it up. I know that if I lost someone close to me that I would sort of shut down and push people away so that's why I had Lucy do that.**

 **CoSmO333: Thank you!**

 **33p1987: Thank you i'm glad you like it! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

_****I had to change the ending of chapter two because of some inconsistency with where they were. Nothing major, just had to make them have their last conversation at the diner before they left.****_

 **An: So something I realized is that I like ending my chapters either with a cliff hanger or with someone falling asleep, it just makes my life easier lol. I haven't gotten any complaints so far so I'm gonna keep doing what I'm doing.**

 **Anyways, here is another long chapter, I say long because I used to only write 3k chapters and that was including the ANs sometimes. I don't know, something about this fic makes me want to write more, and more.**

 **Hope you all enjoy it and remember I don't own Fairy Tail. I'm also not perfect so there may a few mistakes that I have missed while editing this fic.**

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 **Cobra POV**

 _God what I wouldn't do to be able to read her right now._ I thought looking down at her as we walked towards her guild. As if sensing my stare she looked up at me and smiled, not one of those fake ass ones she gave the others at her guild, no this one was the real deal and it was directed at me. I had started to notice the difference between the two smiles when I actually decided to pay attention and got over the fact that no matter what I said or did she didn't seem to be going anywhere. As I watched I would notice how her eyes would crinkle at the edges when she was actually happy and how they would light up, making her eyes appear a shade lighter than they really were. But when she smiled at her guild mates, her eyes appeared dull in comparison. The idiots at the guild were vacuous if they didn't notice the difference, and by the way they acted they had no clue she was pretending what little joy she showed them when at the guild.

"What are you thinking?" I blurted out unintentionally, mentally cursing myself for acting like a love-sick fool.

Her face scrunched in confusion for a second before she smiled again. "It's just killing you that you can't read me isn't it?" She teased, grabbing the hand that was hanging over her shoulder and interlacing our fingers as she snuggled into my side some more.

I growled in answer.

"Alright I'll tell you." She said, not breaking contact with me. "I'm thinking about the job I'm about to go on. Even though I want to do it. I need to do it, I'm pretty sure Mira isn't going to let me go on my own and is going to demand I take someone else. I guess I could ask Laxus, but I'd prefer to not tell anybody else about Aquarius. Plus he's too damned observant that he would notice a key missing from my ring the first time I brought it out to fight." She sighed.

"I could go with you." I offered without thinking. She pulled me to a stop when I tried to walk forward. Looking at her I saw her seriously thinking about my offer.

"You'd have to join the guild… but Mira won't say yes to that she hates you and would actively try to off you if you weren't already immune to poisons." She said, stating something I already knew. What she didn't know was that the majority of her guild was already plotting my death, where to hide the body and what to tell the others when they noticed my absence. They were just waiting for Laxus and his team to leave, along with the mini slayer. "But she can't say no to Laxus…if we ask him instead of Mira he's bound to let you join since you're just costing the guild money since you've been staying at the hotel on the guild's dime – no offense. If we say it to him like that he is more likely to let you work for your food and board. But honestly now after, well after last night you're welcome to stay with me when we're in town…" She offered looking up to me uncertainly.

When I rolled my eye and captured her lips in a quick, rough kiss she moaned and clutched my shirt between her hands.

"Well that takes care of that." She said breathlessly.

This time I chuckled. "Stop plotting a way to get me into the guild, Laxus will let me in. He's already offered when you were away on your other jobs. I just didn't want to join unless I had something that was worth staying." I shrugged dragging her along as I continued walking to the guild.

"Well you could have told me that before." She pouted, weakly and awkwardly hitting my chest with her free hand since I refused to let go of the one I was holding onto.

"Like I said I didn't have anything keeping me here." I squeezed her hand to make sure she got my meaning. By the brief color change in her soul I could tell she did.

Stopping outside of the guild doors I tried to remove my arm from around her shoulders so she wouldn't get shit from everyone but she refused to release my hand. "You're not a rebound Erik, or a dirty secret. I see no reason why we should hide whatever this is from everyone when it's none of their business. Anyways, I'm gonna smell like you so they'll wonder about that…Now if there is a reason you want to keep us a secret then we're gonna have to talk about that once I get back from the job, or while we are on it, because I think whatever reason you have won't be very good." She said huffily, glaring at me and then looking away to glare at the doors.

Using my free hand I forced her to look at me. "They already hate me as it is, I didn't want them to bother you anymore than they already are. Especially with all the other shit you have to deal with." I explained.

 _What the hell? Why is Lucy's scent mingled with that poisonous fuck?_ Gajeel's thoughts fluttered through my head from inside the guild.

"Well it looks like they already know, at least your ex does. Apparently the two of them haven't left for their mission yet." I growled unhappily, trying to rid my mind of the lovey dovey thoughts the bookworm was having. Going from what Lucy had told me the dragon slayer had only been with the short one for a few months, but from her thoughts it was as if they had been together for years. She was already thinking about dresses, flowers and babies. Shuddering I looked down at Luce for any reaction that she was worried that her ex was back but her expression hadn't changed and she still looked pissed off at me.

"I don't care. Right now I need to know if you're still going to go on the job with me." Seeing me nod she smiled and let go of the death grip she had on my arm _._

 _For a tiny little thing she sure was strong._ I smirked.

"Now let's go inside before everyone comes out here." She said dragging me forward.

The moment she opened the doors more thoughts flooded out, breaking my nice bout of silence.

 _Today for sure we'll get Lucy to go on a job with us!_ Natsu thought enthusiastically while munching on a fire fish with Happy on his shoulder. _We'll even ask Cobra if he wants to come along since the two of them are so close now._

 _Mhmmm fish. I wonder if Carla would like som- no she's glaring at me again._

 _We need to get Lucy away from that poison freak, he's probably corrupting her against us. He's had a hold on her since we found him in that prison._

I scoffed at Gray's thought. _If anything it was Luce who started corrupting me since that night. If left to my own devices I'm sure I would have found some way to make everybody's life a living hell, but because of Luce…I was nice…_ I shuddered at the thought.

 _I wish they would all leave Cobra-nii alone._ I knew there was a reason I liked that pint sized slayer.

 _It's about time they got together._ As that thought appeared in my head I looked upstairs to see Laxus and his team leaning over the rail, waiting for the show to begin. When I caught Laxus' eyes I simply nodded, telling him I was ready to join the guild. He understood right away and held up the Fairy Tail stamp he had in his hand already.

 _Guess what I heard when I went to find blondie to make sure she was alright?_ Laxus smirked, his imagination not coming anywhere close to reality.

Glaring at him I returned my attention to the rest of the guild to see that everyone had stopped what they were doing to stare at Luce and me. In particular, they were staring at our interlocked hands and the arm I had around her shoulder. None of this seemed to phase my little spitfire as she ignored everyone besides Wendy, Natsu, Kinana, and Lisanna, those who hadn't been against my being here, as she walked to the mission board. As she looked over the board I watched as Gajeel glared at me and was all but dragged out of the guild by the book worm. Once they had left the guild, and his pathetic threats gone with him I focused on everybody else's thoughts as I waited for Lucy.

 _What the hell is that?_

 _When did they get together?_

 _I bet Lucy is just using him to make Gajeel jealous._

 _I can't believe she went from Gajeel to that piece of shit. Doesn't she know she could do much better? Hell I'd love a chance at her._

 _She turns us down for that poisonous shit? What's that about?_

"This is it!" She said excitedly holding up so I could see it, oblivious to the thoughts of her guild members.

"Hold on." I said, moving her behind me, while still keeping hold of her hand. Turning to face her guild I growled at everyone. "Damn right we're together. No she isn't using me to make the iron prick jealous. Yes she knows she could have her pick of any guy but she chose me you fuckers. So you can go fuck yourselves and leave us the hell alone." I snarled at everyone, causing them all to turn red in the face. Most of them in anger, and some in embarrassment or shame.

"Did someone really think I'd do that? Use you to make my ex jealous?" Luce asked stepping out from behind me, angry tears threatening to spill over.

"Damn it. It doesn't matter, they're just angry you're with me." I said desperately trying to make her feel better.

"No that thought…" She shook her head. "You're right, whoever thought that doesn't matter."

Dejectedly she walked passed everybody, people trying to apologize, others sending her sympathetic glances and others glaring at me. Taking the stairs two at a time we made it to Laxus' table in no time where his team was already fuming at the others below. Before anyone could start ranting Laxus turned to me.

"You ready for this?" Laxus asked. Gasps of outrage echoed throughout the guild as they realized what was about to happen. Several of them tried to come upstairs to stop it but the others were already blocking the stairs, and runes prevented the Exceeds from bringing anyone up here. Nodding I took off my jacket and pulled up my sleeve so he could put it on my upper left arm.

"Dark purple." I said, telling him the color I wanted. As with my other guild marks it was quick and painless, with a lingering tingle of magic that now linked me to all of those idiots downstairs.

"He should have done it on his chest, then he could have taken his shirt off." Ever whispered to Luce who laughed while keeping eye contact with me. Ever looked at me too, fully aware that I had heard everything she said.

"Oh Ever, you have no idea what you missed." Luce said winking at me. "Laxus can you approve us for this mission?"

Taking it and looking it over the lightning slayer cringed. "I heard about this mission, I was going to move it over to the S-Class board."

"But you didn't and we got to it first." She argued, inching closer to the other slayer looking as if she was going to snatch it out of his hands.

 _Damn it. Where's Gramps when you need him._ Laxus looked at the other blonde then back to the paper. _I guess I could always make her S-Class… I was already talking to Gramps about it the last time he called._

"Do that. You know she's strong enough to be S-Class. Plus all of the jobs she had been doing before was boarder line S-Class, another reason why you and the old man have been talking about her more often." I said sitting down next to Luce who looked confused, and somewhat terrified. Ignoring the slayer's glare I continued. "If it makes you feel better I know…that particular dark guild, and was considered S-Class before the council captured us."

 _Yeah, let's turn the felon into our next S-Class mage that's a great idea!_

 _If Cobra becomes S-Class then that means I'll get to too since I've already beaten him twice before!_

"I'm not saying I want the title, just that I'd protect her if things got too crazy." I said quickly dispelling any thoughts of me becoming S-Class _. Under no circumstance could I see that hot head with the title of S-Class… the world was likely to burn if that ever happened._

"Well then. Lucy what do you think? You ready to become S-Class?" Laxus asked.

"I-."

"You can't do that!" The demon said flying up the stairs, knocking down everyone in her path. "Only Makarov can appoint someone S-Class."

"No only the Master of the guild can, and as _acting_ Master until Gramps returns it is within my power to do this." Laxus glowered, standing up to lean over the table and get into the demon's face.

"You don't know what you're doing. If the job requires a S-Class mage then have Lucy's team go with her!" She yelled.

"Lucy doesn't have a team. Her split has been recorded and noted months ago, and Gramps is fully aware of it and has no objections. I know you want things to go back to the way they were before Mira, but that obviously isn't going to happen and the more you fight against her the more you're pushing her away. She doesn't want or need your concern, or your controlling behavior. She if fully capable of making her own decisions. Whether that means not having a team, taking difficult jobs or banging the Poison Dragon Slayer. You just need to accept it." Laxus finished glaring at Mira. "I'll let Gramps know as soon as possible that we have a new S-Class mage in Fairy Tail. Lucy, Cobra you're free to go on that job, I'll contact the requester to let them know to expect you. Keep in contact and inform me of any changes to the job."

If that wasn't a dismissal I didn't know what was. Grabbing the stunned blonde's arm, I dragged her down the stairs and out of the guild before there was a full blown riot. Everyone was still watching two of the strongest mages in the guild stand off against each other, half of them mentally chanting for a fight, the other half preparing their escape route if things got worse.

 **Lucy POV**

 _What the hell just happened? I'm not supposed to be S-Class, I am nowhere near the level of strength as Erza, or Mira. Natsu, even Gray should have become S-Class before me._

"Breathe Luce." I heard distantly as I stared off into space, replaying what had just happened as I was being guided out of the guild. When I felt a sharp slap to my back I gasped in some much needed air and glared at the slayer beside me. "You weren't breathing."

"What the hell just happened? Are Mira and Laxus going to fight, we need to stop them. The guild – no the town – wouldn't survive if they ever fought." I said, heading back to the guild. Pulling up short after a couple of steps I swung wild eyes to look at Erik. "We need -."

"What we need to do is get on the first train out of here before anybody else tries to stop us and before I do something lethal to the next person who has less than nice thoughts about you." He growled. When I refused to budge he growled again and hefted me onto his shoulder.

Trying to get free of him was useless, so I quit struggling and let my mind wander to what was happening at the guild. My thoughts went from fire, to lightning striking the guild and neighboring buildings, to bodies flying out of the walls. Keeping an eye on the guild, and the guild's general location once it got out of sight I was relieved to see no signs of smoke and no fleeing citizens. Moments later when we got to the ticket counter Erik faced away from the booth so I could order the tickets, but I insisted he put me down so I could pay. Warily watching me he set me on my feet so I could dig out my money from my jean pocket.

"I'll pay you back..." He said uncomfortably.

"You're gonna get the monetary reward, while I get the book. That's all I really wanted anyways. Before you argue, I've already paid off my rent for the next four months, and have a nice chunk in savings. Working alone has its perks, like actually receiving the reward instead of it all going to repairs for the damage my ex-team had done. So as long as you don't destroy anything that shouldn't be destroyed then we're good." I said, getting onto the waiting train and walking us to the back where there were less people. "Is there any empty room?" I asked him, instead of looking through each compartment.

Leading the way he took us to the furthest compartment and opened the door. As I passed him to enter the compartment I noticed his nostrils flare out as he shook his head, when he didn't say anything in warning I decided to ignore his strange reaction and moved to sit down by the window. Sliding the door shut he threw himself onto the bench across from me and closed his eye.

"Uhh… Erik." I said, worried that he was about to hurl or something. I didn't have a way to knock him out as Erza did for Natsu, and I didn't have enough time to ask Wendy to cast her motion sickness spell over him so I was pretty much screwed if he became sick. Inching away from him towards the door I eyed him cautiously ready to jerk open the door at the first sign of him gagging.

"No I don't get motion sick, the lacrima prevents that. I'm just trying to get rid of my headache and block out the passenger's thoughts." He grumbled.

Relieved I left him to it and called Virgo asking her to stop buy Erik's room topack him enough clothes for a week, and then bring it and my pack to us when she was done. Happy to help she disappeared just as quickly as she arrived and went about packing.

"I don't have much." He said peaking over at me as I took the seat across from him.

"We'll pick up whatever you need on the way. And yes I know, you'll pay me back. If it makes you feel better you can even pay half of the rent when we come back to Magnolia." I teased, kicking his leg lightly, getting him to smile. "Get everyone out of your head?"

"Just about, there are some loud thinkers on this train, especially the thieves that are stored away in the back." He said unworried.

"Thieves…shouldn't we do something about that?" I asked, not entirely sure if he was joking with me or not.

"They won't last very long, they're just a couple of stupid teenagers. Their parents are outside demanding a full check of every train before they leave." He chuckled.

"Well if you're sure…" I said.

"What's the job we're going on? I only saw a few details." He asked leaning forward to dig into my front pocket for the piece of paper but since they were skin tight he was having some difficulty so I leaned back to let give him more leeway in the pockets. Taking advantage of the room he now had he let his hands skim where they shouldn't as he grabbed the paper.

A knock on the door interrupted our fun when a train attendant apologized and explained that they were looking for two teenage boys who may be hiding on board.

"Check the luggage car, I think I heard something back there." I offered smiling at the man, who stuttered and blushed before backing out of the room.

"I hope you're happy, you're going to be the star of his dreams for the next couple of nights, and the piece of ass he imagines as he jerks off." Erik chuckled, unfolding the crumpled paper.

I balked at him. "But I was just being nice!" I cried horrified.

"You should have thought of that before smiling at the fool." He snorted looking down at the paper. Leaving me with those horrifying images, of the man, boy really, using me to ugggh! Dropping my head into my hands I groaned. Trying to get my mind off of the disgusting thoughts Erik had brought up I thought about the mission request. I has already memorized the flyer when I first saw it yesterday.

 **MAGES WANTED!**

 **Location: Alpine Forest near the eastern coast of Fiore. By the port city of Gyro.**

 **Request: Akane Resort is looking to build on the forested land spanning the ocean, but the forest is riddled with all kinds of monsters and there is a small dark guild deep in the woods. The dark guild has been harassing the nearby citizens in addition to preventing any work to be done on the land. We need the forest cleared of monsters and the dark guild taken care of.**

 **Please speak to the mayor of Gyro for further instructions and information.**

 **Reward: 2 VIP resort passes for life. 100,000 jewels and one book on Celestial Magic and other rare magic – provided by the mayor of Gyro in thanks for a speedy solution to our problem.**

 _If I weren't so focused on getting that book I would have been more excited about the passes, but I wouldn't be able to use them and fully enjoy it until I had Aquarius back._ Looking out the window gloomily I thought about whether or not Cobra would ever want to go to the resort with me once this was all over. _Would we still be…whatever we were?_

"Hey." Erik said lowering the flyer after he had finished reading it. "That's a shit ton of money for just me-."

"I insist you get it all, we'll both get a park pass and I want the book. Considering it's a book on rare magic it's bound to be worth a bit to someone but since I don't plan on giving it away I think it's a fair split of the reward. Really Erik, when I said I had a nice chunk saved up I meant it." I said my head still leaning on the window as I looked over at him. "Please don't argue, I've already made up my mind." He grumbled, clearly thinking that me giving him all of the money was an act of charity, but it really wasn't. Even if he hadn't come with me I would have just given the money to Loke, or Laxus if I had been forced to ask him."

Hearing the train fire up I pulled out a book from my pack that Virgo had dropped off moments ago. Glimpsing over at the small pack by Erik, I realized how sparse he had been living the past few months. According to Virgo's silent account of Erik's hotel he really didn't have much; a spare jacket, maybe three outfits, all consisting of black, black and more black and two pairs of shoes – including the pair he was already wearing. Virgo was appalled by the lack of stuff he had that she promised to have several more outfits, jackets and shoes waiting for him at my apartment when we returned. I smiled when I imagined his reaction when he saw all of his new clothes when we got home.

He wasn't used to others being nice to him, I didn't blame him considering the appalling way my guild had been treating him. I know that he had tried to kill us, take over the world and kidnapped both Wendy and I but that was all in the past, and if Wendy and I were able to forgive him then I think the rest of the guild should have gotten over their reservations when it came to him. It wasn't too much to ask considering we forgave Gajeel, Laxus, Lyon, and the Raijinshu. Shaking my head at how close-minded my guild had been acting I found my book mark towards the end of my book and opened it up. I wanted to use my gale force glasses, but I didn't have another book on Celestial Magic to read so I decided to take my time with this one.

Quickly reading the rest of the book, maybe 50 pages I found nothing useful and closed the book in a huff. _Nothing!_ _All of the books in the guild's library, all of the books in Magnolia's library and even Freed's personal library held nothing of use to me. Sure they had several techniques I might try later on but there was never anything about restoring a broken key._ Tossing the book, gently of course because it was a book, on the bench beside me I crossed my arms and glared at the ceiling.

"Have you talked to Sorano or her sister at Sabertooth?" My companion asked cracking his eye open to look at me.

"…no." I said unhappily. "Do you think they might know something that could help?"

He shrugged. "It wouldn't hurt to ask. It's not like they're gonna call up your guild and blab to them."

I sighed. "Yeah I guess…we could head over there after the job…?" I half asked and half suggested making sure that it was alright to include him. When he nodded that it'd be fine I uncrossed my hands and sat there for a minute. Biting my bottom lip I stared at the spot beside him and contemplated moving over there to sit by him. The train ride was going to be a long one since it was cross country, and he was way more comfortable than the bench or the window…

"We should also stop by your old house. The mansion." He explained when I looked up in confusion. "Your mom was a Celestial Mage wasn't she? She's bound to have some books or notes on it somewhere in that huge ass house."

I nodded slowly, mentally berating myself for not thinking about that earlier. No one was living in the Heartfilia Estate, and from what I gathered from my banker my dad had erased all of his debt before he passed, leaving the land and everything it held to me. Slapping my forehead with my palm I cringed.

"I'm so stupid. Mom definitely has books on Ceslestial Magic, I remember her reading some bits to me as bed time stories. But I don't remember anything to do with restoring keys, but then again there were a lot of books we didn't get to. You're a genius Erik." I smiled at him glad that I had decided to trust him with this, and happy that he wanted to help me.

At my praise he shrugged and closed his eye, returning to his relaxed slumped position on the bench across from me. Making up my mind I stood up and tucked my pack and his into the compartment above us and took the seat next to him. Unconsciously he tensed up, but as I slowly leaned my head against his shoulder he relaxed again. Closing my eyes and smiling when I inhaled his musky, earth-based scent I relaxed fully and let my mind wander back to what was happening back at the guild. My fingers itched to grab the lacrima that was in my pocket to call Ever to figure out what happened, but I knew Erik would snatch it out of my hands and keep it away from me for a few days. Even though I wasn't entirely happy with everyone at the guild I still wanted them safe, and having two of the most powerful mages in our guild at odds was bound to lead to destruction and possible maiming. Figuring the others wouldn't be insane enough to join in on the fight if there was one, well besides Natsu but I knew Erza would knock him out to keep him safe, I was able to ease my worries and found myself dozing off.

Moving to slide down the bench to use his leg as a pillow I was pleasantly surprised when he lift his arm up, dropping my head onto his chest before he encased me in the crook of his arm. Finding this position oddly comfortable I took in his scent with a deep breath. "Night Erik." I mumbled into his chest, matching my breathing and heartbeat with his.

* * *

 **An: Let me know what you thought! Please and thank you!**

 **Bea Cullen Salvatore: Thank you! :)**

 **Q'Nisa: Yes Gajeel is her ex. And thanks I appreciate all of the support everyone has been giving me so far!**

 **awesomegirl3362: THANK YOU! I'm glad you like it, if you haven't already you should check out GemNika's colu. ;)**

 **xXCelestialGoddessXx: Sorry it took me so long to update! honestly I forgot to come on here and post it since I already had it written out! But school will be done in a few weeks and then i'll have about a week before it starts up again so hopefully I can whip out some more chapters during that time. :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**An: So sorry it took so long to post this! I have been really busy with school and family.**

 **Hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

 **Lucy POV**

Hours later the daylight that had streamed through our large window had been blocked by grey, angry rain clouds looking ready to burst. Blinking tiredly out of the window I glared at the fat drop of water that hit the window a second before a steady stream of rain started falling down hard. Brushing my hand across my keys I found out that it had only been about five hours since we left Magnolia and we were only now passing by the rubble of what used to be the Magic Council. I shouldn't be too surprised that we were moving at such a slow pace considering that a huge majority of rails got destroyed in the battle with Tartarus, and with FACE randomly sprouting up from the ground.

Magic had taken a huge it, and as such the rebuilding tasks needed to be prioritized. Rebuilding towns, and cities came first since people who were as happy as possible didn't usually riot or go on strike from work. Once that was taken care of it had been a slow task of inspecting all of the tracks and deciding which ones to fix first. Major shipping lines had been repaired first, before the civilian lines, hence the detours we must have taken to keep us going towards our destination, and since the other lines weren't operational I bet we were making far more stops than was normal.

Deciding not to worry about it, since we were on our way and we weren't in a particular rush to get the job done I carefully extracted myself from Erik's arm and sat up. Staring down at his jacket he had somehow draped over me without waking me up I smiled and brought it up to my nose and took a big whiff. I loved his scent. He smelled of the earth with a hint of spice, which probably hinted at how dangerous those teeth could be if he had a mind to hurt someone. But I knew I was safe from his poison, everyone at Fairy Tail was, but they had yet to learn that. With a shake of my head I put the jacket on and stood up, stretching before silently leaving the compartment to find some food. Several cars up the train I found the dining car and ordered food for both me and Erik. I spent a few minutes talking the barista who had gushed when she saw my guild mark. Leaning over the counter she whispered that her family had seen the official report from the King about what had happened, she had also seen him personally thank the several guilds that had helped protect all of Fiore and our way of life, because without magic a lot of our luxuries, and every day items wouldn't work. I was uncomfortable talking about the whole fight, but I didn't mind talking about the mages who had taken time off from doing jobs in order to help the massive rebuilding that was happening. When someone came up behind me to order food I silently thanked them for giving me an excuse to get away. Wishing her well I scooped up the half of my bounty that was already prepared and packaged, and left the other half, the stuff that needed to be cooked, to be delivered whenever it was done.

Walking back to the compartment I got a lot of weird looks at all of the food I had, and shrugged them off. Being seen as a glutton wasn't something new, not when I had Natsu as a best friend and partner. The amount of times I've had to order food for him because he was late quickly got me used to the strange looks. When I reached the door I awkwardly held the packages of food in one arm with my chin on top of it so it wouldn't fall and slid open the door to find Erik watching me with a smirk.

"You should really hear what everyone is thinking about the hot blonde that's carrying around a huge stack of food." He teased eyeing the food hungrily, but not moving to get up to help me in the slightest. Letting the door slide back into place I stuck my tongue out at him and stood in front of the vacant bench to lean forward so I could drop the food onto the bench.

"You know it wouldn't have killed you to help me if you had heard all of them thinking what a freak I was for having so much food." I pointed out in mock annoyance as I sorted the food. Food that needed to be packed up for our job went next to the window while snacks and drinks that were supposed to tide us over until our meals were delivered went to the right.

"I could have, but then I wouldn't have gotten to hear how jealous the women were of some woman they didn't know catching their companion's attention, and I definitely wouldn't have gotten to watch the show." He chuckled. Looking at him over my shoulder I saw that his eyes were glued to my ass that was sticking out since I was bent over the bench arranging the food. Giving it an extra wiggle I returned to the task at hand. If it had been anybody else who was sitting there checking out my ass I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been so understanding, even Gajeel. When we had been together I had realized what a sexist he truly was. He didn't like how independent I had been, and how I expected him to do the menial tasks like everyone else. It was one of the reasons why I didn't argue about the breakup.

But Erik was different, at least I thought he was. I felt like if I had been serious about needing help he would have gotten up and helped without a word. From last night and the slow getting to know each other we had been doing for the past several months I noticed how sweet he could actually be. He had no problem helping me cook our dinner, or clean up afterwards, no matter how tired he was and when I said I needed to go grocery shopping because he had eaten all of my food he offered to go along to help me and paid for half of the food with the little allowance he got from the guild. He acted completely opposite of how the majority of the guild portrayed him. If they would just look beyond the sarcastic bullshit, he spouted as a way to keep people at bay they would actually see a decent guy.

But I didn't blame him for wanting to be separated from everyone else. No one in the guild, beyond me, Laxus, Lisanna, Wendy, Natsu, Kinana and the Raijianshu no one had really shown him any ounce of kindness, or willingness to look past his previous affiliations and misguided attempts at world domination. I didn't think it was because of what he had done, not entirely at least. I think they were still pretty butt hurt over what happened with Tartartus and decided to take it out on the one person they could, but they needed to get over it. We survived, and no one was worse for wear in the guild, we had only lost one person and Erik and I were the only two who knew about it. Yet you didn't see us acting like pricks. Shaking my head I scowled down at the food in front of me. To say I was disappoint in the guild was a major understatement. Erik was no different than Laxus, Gajeel, Juvia or any of the other previous enemies, turned friends. Hell everyone even forgave Jellal and he had hurt the most people out of anybody we had encountered.

Feeling Erik crowd in behind me I shifted from my depressing thoughts and turned to give him a smile before reaching for both of our packs in the ceiling compartment, only to have him snatch them out and get them down for me. Giving him the half I wanted him to carry I packed the rest of the food, mainly the food I could eat, in my bag before pulling the drawstrings to close it. Without a word he took my pack and his that were now filled to the brim and stored them again.

"Here." I said as I handing him several snacks and a jug of bleach I had talked a train worker out of on my way back. Grabbing my own snack and drink I moved to take a seat next to him but was instead guided to sit sideways on his lap. With one arm wrapped around my waist he opened his bleach with the other and began chugging it as if he hadn't had something to drink in ages. I watched him as I slowly sipped my water and wrinkled my nose when I smelled the bleach as he burped. Chuckling at my reaction he blew a puff of air into my face, surrounding me with the smell of bleach, struggling to move away from him and the noxious smell I glared at him as he held me down and continued to drink the entire jug. I guess if I was going to be hanging around him some more I would need to build some sort of resistance to some of the more common poisons he ate. Just in case our food got switched around or something like that. I hadn't had to worry about that at the guild because Mira would never make that kind of mistake, and neither would the diner but other people could get distracted easily, or think that we both wanted bleach mixed in with our shakes or nightshade in our salads.

"I needed that." Erik said, closing the jug before tossing it on the floor and grabbing a bag of chips that he tore open with his teeth before steadily munch on them as his fingers danced over my hip, occasionally running over my thigh as we sat there in comfortable silence.

Two bags of chips and three protein bars later Erik was done with his snacks and still hungry. When he saw that I was still eating my single bag of chips he made it his goal to try to steal each chip I pulled out. Giggling as I avoided his grabbing hands and snapping mouth I shoved chip after chip into my mouth, only losing a few to him. And that was only because I decided to be gracious and held out the occasional chip so he wouldn't starve.

When he was about to resort to tickling to distract me from my next snack a knock sounded on the door and he snarled unhappily at our game being interrupted. Slapping him on the chest with my only protein bar that he had been after I hopped off of his lap to open the door.

"Oh hush, it's just our food. You didn't think I'd only get a Dragon Slayer snacks did you?" Walking backwards I watched as he tore open the wrapping on the bar and took a huge bite out of it. Seeing his shrug I shook my head and sighed in mock annoyance. "You do remember who my best friend is right, and who I've been sitting with for the past couple of months. Both you and Laxus eat enough food to feed a small village on a daily basis."

Turning around I slid open the door and stood aside so the two carts full of food could be pushed into the room. Thanking the two boys who delivered the carts I tipped them, closing the door before they could ask the questions that I saw swimming in their eyes. _That barista must have told them who I was._ Before I could turn around I heard the metal food covers being tossed off of the plates and onto the bench across from Erik.

"Really? You act like you're starving but you just had two bags of chips and four protein bars. Not to mention that giant jug of bleach. Dragon Slayers really do have black holes for stomachs." I muttered moving the food covers over so I could sit down and grab the one plate of food I ordered for myself. Licking my lips as I took in the fries and BBQ chicken sandwich I lifted one to my lips but stopped when Erik cleared his throat. Looking at him with the fry half in my mouth his brows raised. "You have your own food, in fact everything left on those carts is yours. If you want fries yours should be on one of those plates. Look at the plates on the second shelf it might be there."

Finding the desired plate he inhaled the fries, the sandwich, the soup, more bleach, pasta, a plate of cookies, a burger, and some random smoothie that I asked for that was a mixture of the cleaner they kept on the train. I didn't think it looked good at all, especially not the way it was bubbling as if it was going to explode at any minute. But after an initial sniff and sip of the deadly concoction he downed the glass, and refilled it with the full pitcher that he had been given. When he was all done every plate was empty, including mine that I hadn't been able to finish and gave to him when I saw him eyeing it as he ate his mound of food. Pleasantly full I pushed the carts into the hallway to be picked up later and laid down on the bench with my hands over my stomach, and my eyes closed.

Quietly humming to myself I thought of all of the times I made Aquarius play picnic with me as a child, when we would take baths and when she would sing to me when I couldn't get to sleep. I missed her… a lot. I missed her teasing, her attempts to sweep me away, and I especially missed the reassuring presence her key brought me. But now instead of reassurance the key was empty and cold, reminding me of my failure to protect someone I cared about deeply. That's why it was wrapped up safely in my pack, someplace my hand wouldn't accidentally brush against it, but still within reach if I needed it. Letting my memories take over I blocked out the rest of the world and drifted off to sleep, already knowing it wouldn't be a very restful one.

 **Cobra POV**

After we ate I could tell that her mind went elsewhere as she laid down and closed her eyes. If it hadn't been for the tears that streamed down her face I wouldn't have known something was wrong. She acted the same as always, never letting others know that something was wrong in fear of bothering them. But what she needed to realize was that I was here for her, as she had been during my rescue and recovery. It was killing me that I couldn't get a read on her. That was how I usually solved all problems by picking out the right words to say, or what needed to be done, out of someone's head. This…silence was deafening. Watching her toss and turn I listened closely as she mumbled in her sleep.

"No...Aquarius don't!" She said softly while the tears came down harder. Her breath got choppier as the crying increased, hearing her hiccup and sob while she reached for someone who wasn't there I moved to wake her up from the nightmare. "Aquarius!"

"Don't. At least she's getting some sleep." Loke said as he appeared next to me and sat down watching his master intensely. Sitting back on the bench heavily I glared at him. "Besides the night with you and the nap earlier she's been sleeping as little as possible. We have had to start drugging her while on missions in order to make sure she is properly rested. The fact that she feels comfortable enough to fall asleep with you is a good thing, despite how unpleasant her dreams are." The spirit cringed when Lucy cried out again.

"Please, don't leave me!"

 _If only I had been strong enough for her then she wouldn't have had to sacrifice Aquarius and wouldn't be in all of this pain._ The lion thought as we sat there in silence watching the blonde come close to falling off the bench only to right herself in her sleep but both of us were ready to catch her at a moment's notice. _At least she's getting a respite with the slayer._

"You know she doesn't blame you." I said without looking at the spirit. From the corner of my eye I saw him nod sadly.

"But I do, just as she's putting all of the blame on herself. It's something we can't change. If there was any known way to repair Aquarius' key I'd do it in a heartbeat even if it meant I would never see Lucy agai-"

"Don't be stupid." I growled slapping the back of his head and actually looking at him this time. "She'd be in this same condition if it were any of her keys. You and I both know that." He rubbed his head and nodded.

"I know." Loke sighed. Looking at me with nonjudgmental eyes he spoke. "You know I was against you coming back to the guild and Lucy sitting by your side as you recovered. But helping you get better, and spending so much time with you has really helped her and made her happy even if it doesn't seem like it. For some reason she prefers to be in your presence than her closest friends and I can't say I'm not jealous or entirely happy about it, but I am thankful that you have pulled her out of her shell somewhat and have her feeling something other than pain and desolation. What I'm trying to say is thank you. All of her spirits are thankful for the impact you have had on Lucy, and will help you whenever we can." The lion said shifting his gaze away as he stood up and closed the distance to Lucy. Looking down at her, he mumbled something that I didn't catch before letting his hand hover over her head, producing a light from his hand and letting it sink into Lucy, before disappearing as silently as he had appeared. The light must have had some soothing effect because she calmed down after a few minutes and stopped her struggling, and stopped calling out to her lost spirit.

I wasn't sure what just happened but it seemed like I got the spirits' approval to be with their master. And if I didn't know any better they were about to start popping up randomly to help me if it looked like I needed it. Rubbing the back of my neck I thought about that for a moment, not seeing any particular cons to the whole situation. It was strange to see how vastly different Lucy was with her spirits compared to how Sorano used to be. When she had those three spirits they would drag their feet whenever summoned and definitely didn't go above and beyond their contract by popping in to check on their master or do some calming spell so they could get some restful sleep.

When we had started following Team Natsu back during Nirvana, Sorano had been jealous to see how Lucy's spirits interacted with her and how they willingly wanted to help her. Her soul had glowed green with envy, before red had seeped in with murderous intent. I hadn't cared one bit about what the two girls did, Sorano hadn't had any problem killing the last Celestial Mage she encountered so I found myself uninterested, and in turn focused solely on testing out my strength against another Dragon Slayer, and finding the healer. My inattention to Sorano's jealousy cost her, her keys and the new ones she would have collected she said, more like whined afterwards. If I had helped her, even for a moment she would have won and where would I be now? Probably dead from dehydration at that cursed prison.

In away I was glad to see the spirits leave Sorano's control. Her treatment of them, and the way she physically punished them reminded me too much of the Tower of Heaven and how we were all treated which is another reason I had opted out of helping her.

But seeing the difference between Sorano and Lucy made me think that having Lucy's spirits watching my back would't be so bad. I had seen what they were all capable of and how strong they were together and separate so it was comforting knowing that if I needed someone I'd have help, in a way it was like having Cubellios again.

Thinking of my old companion I spotted the corner of the flyer sticking out of my jacket pocket that was currently being worn by the blonde and carefully pulled it out and glared at it. The place we were going was where I had been separated from my best friend while we hid from the rune knights. _Damned dark guild grew out of control after we got captured the second time._ I thought my hands clenching, crumpling the edges of the paper that I held. Letting the paper drop to the ground I rolled my shoulders and tried to recall everything about the dark guild Inferno.

Inferno had been where we sent the mages who wanted to join our guild but since Brain was against anyone else besides his 'keys' he refused them. The pathetic mages kept following us around even after we rejected them. For weeks we tolerated their presence before we became sick of them and were about to kill them to get them out of our hair. But Angel, being the greedy woman she was, suggested we have them do all of our manual labor and steal all of the money we would need for whatever scheme we were doing. Since none of us enjoyed taking time to do such a menial task we jumped on the opportunity to have more free time to do what we wanted, and more money to do it. So we set them up in a series of caves in the forest by the coast. The guild had had maybe five people by the time the Infinity Clock happened and our capture, but from the sound of it, it seemed as if there were more members now… _far too many if you asked me._ I thought in disgust remembering what a bunch of idiots they were.

Stacy, Aston, Blaze, Felicity and Edger were all weak as fuck when they first decided to follow us that we half expected them to get caught on their first job of stealing from a rich nobleman that was traveling from the capitol. Surprisingly they succeeded and returned back to the hideout without being followed. After that we left them to their own devices, dropping in when we needed money or just to check to make sure they weren't plotting against us. To be honest they had their uses, one of them being that they helped us escape the Rune Knights after our first failed attempt with Nirvana. Licking our wounds we all just chilled out in the caves, enjoying the service of having them cater to our every need, and I meant _every_ need. Stacy and Felicity... let's just say they had been innocent before our time there and by the time we left they were anything but. But they both paled in comparison to Lucy. I don't know what she did exactly but every time she touched me it was like I had been jolted to life and all of my senses sharpened.

For a moment I stared at the blonde in question and remembered our morning together and smirked. _Yep definitely in a whole 'nother league._ _Shit! This meant I had to tell Lucy everything since we would come in contact with this damned guild._ My earlier smiled was wiped from my face at the thought. The conversation about her ex had been unpleasant for me but I couldn't imagine what she would feel when she learned about my past conquests. I hope she didn't want a complete run down of everyone...there were far too many to count let alone for me to remember. _Shit. If this messed things up with her no one from that damned guild would survive once I got my hands on them._

Clenching and un-clenching my fists in annoyance and anger at the thought of my not so stellar past coming to bite me in the ass I forced myself to think of something else before I somehow talked myself out of telling Lucy the truth. If I had learned one thing about her in the past months it was that she didn't take being lied to well at all. Lying about where I had gotten my various bruises from the members of the guild who would randomly throw shit at me at the same time, making avoiding well over twenty objects impossible had been a mistake on my part and everyone else's. When she had gotten fed up after a week of new bruises popping up she had glared at everyone and demanded to know the truth, but everyone remained tight-lipped. When no one answered her she resorted to bribery and bought the biggest fish she could find and gave it to Happy in exchange for the information she wanted. As she listened to the mumbled accounts of objects being thrown, magic attacks, unpleasant surprises being left in my room at the guild she had pulled out her whip and punished everyone who had looked away guiltily, or who tried to sneak out of the guild. Everyone, including myself had walked away with a stinging patch of skin. She also demanded that I be put up in the hotel in Magnolia on the guild's dime to make up for the poor treatment. Makarov had balked over the lacrima, both at the treatment I had been receiving and Lucy's demand, but one look at the furious blonde had him snapping his mouth shut and agreeing to anything she wanted. After that they had stopped their physical attacks and resorted to thinking every nasty thought they had about me, trying to make me uncomfortable or unwelcome enough to leave. But none of it had worked obviously.

As for the five mages powers well as I said before they were weak as fuck. Stacy, the Water Mage, was probably the strongest out of them all, and that's because her powers had an odd twist to them. Along with normal water, she was also able to sense and control the water that was in other people's bodies and force it to shoot out through their skin, or have it boil while in the body, or once I saw her completely evaporate all of the water from within and the person literally shrunk into himself and died. But if she controlled the body's water she was done after that one attack, so she mainly stuck with normal water attacks. Due to the nature of her magic she kept her hair dyed a light blue and usually wore nothing but a bikini top and a skirt thing that wrapped around her waste. She had been pretty at best but had a huge rack that had attracted me to her.

For a Beast Mage Aston was a tiny thing with a mane of unruly hair that reached the middle of his back. Barely reaching my shoulders and unable to gain any muscle no matter how hard he had tried. He was able to call animals and monsters to him and control them somewhat. I said somewhat because more times than naught the monsters were able to break the hold he had on him and attempted to kill him. Which would explain why all of the beasts in the forest were raging about, they were looking for him and wanted to find the fucker to tear him limb from limb. I didn't blame them, and hoped they succeeded so there'd be one less person to worry about.

Blaze, well his name was pretty self explanatory and unimaginative. It wasn't his real name from what we gathered but then we never cared considering we all had used code names. He hadn't been good for much else than manipulating fire that he couldn't make, which was why he always carried around matches with him. Take the matches, and don't make a fire or be around one and you had pretty much defeated him. His red hair had fallen flat on his head no matter the amount of gel he had used, fed up with it he had shaved it all off and kept it short. He was the opposite of Aston, being a head taller than me and ripped, not as ripped as Elfman though. He also had a ridiculously low voice, making it sound like he was grumbling every time he spoke.

Felicity had a strange power and the most annoying in my opinion. She was like a banshee, screaming at a very high pitch she was able to disorientate people, especially me. It was an effective way of distracting their target while the others went in and did their job, but when she wasn't screaming and was only talking normally her voice grated on my nerves with it's high squeaky pitch to the point where I had to gag her when we had sex. Her only saving grace was that she had been attractive and not one of those stick thin women.

Last was Edger. He was a normal looking guy, about my height with blonde hair and an average build. His power however was anything but ordinary. He was a bit of a Weather Mage, on a good day when he had enough energy he could summon rain clouds, produce a small tornado and even have a sand storm appear in a blink of an eye. But like the others he never fully developed his powers and was limited to doing one major weather change before he wore himself out.

Shaking my head at the end of the mental run down I still couldn't believe that they had somehow grew in power over the past year. Even if they had sacrificed something as the five us had done before the Infinity Clock to make ourselves stronger they couldn't have gotten that much stronger, not enough to allow them to fight off the other mages that I'm sure already tried their hands at this job.

Letting my mind run wild at the various possibilities of who could now be leading the dark guild I stared out of the window and watched without really seeing as the Capital City passed by, a giant face sticking up out of the middle of what used to be the market place.

* * *

 **An: Let me know what you thought, please and thank you!  
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 **Thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, followed and favorited my fic! It really means a lot! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Erik POV**

Early the next morning we got off of the train as it came to its last stop. Unsurprisingly we were the only two who got off at station right outside the forest and were wished good luck by the train conductor and some of the workers before they left us in their dust. Looking around we noticed that the station had one window and one door. The door was firmly locked while the window was opened a crack so the person inside could talk to anyone who appeared. Looking behind the weathered and old station we saw the wild vegetation and trees that had various claw marks while some looked as if something big and heavy had landed on it. Hiking up our packs and firmly placing them over our shoulders we followed what used to be a trail, but was now covered in weeds and rocks, and had several gauges in the solid dirt.

With Lucy's whip in her hand and my senses on high alert we took our first steps into the forest. We had walked maybe a mile with nothing coming our way but we still didn't let our guard down. If Laxus was thinking about changing this job to an S-Class one then the previous mages must have found the trek, monsters and mages quite dangerous. After another half mile we heard a screech in the air as a huge shadow covered us from above. Ducking under the trees we looked up and saw a large Wyvern with a baby one circling above. It didn't look like they had spotted us considering they hadn't adjusted their circling when we moved, instead they stayed where they were. In an instant the larger Wyvern swooped down out ahead of us right before a howl in pain echoed throughout the forest.

Watching as the larger of the Wyverns reappeared we saw that it had a mutated bear within its clutches that was still trying to land a few good swipes in to be released. But with a twist of its massive claws the Wyvern killed the bear. As if telling the baby, it was next the Wyvern looked back down at the forest floor and then to the smaller Wyvern. Circling a couple of more times the smaller Wyvern lurched down, it took a few minutes but eventually we heard another growl as its prey was caught. This time however the prey was a bear cub that looked worse for wear, already sporting several cuts and bleeding freely from them. It growled uselessly as it laid limply in the small claws and looked at its parent in defeat. With both of their prey caught the two flew off to the right, away from the town, to eat.

"That was oddly depressing." Lucy mumbled, breaking the silence as she left the tree she had been using for cover. "Yet oddly sweet at the same time." She was starring after the family of vicious beasts as if they had been rabbits, with a half-smile across her lips. When I looked at her strangely surprised she could see past the gruesome deaths, she shrugged before continuing down the path. If anything I would have thought she would whine about the bears being eaten, or how life wasn't fair, like most women did, well the ones I encountered usually thought it as they ran away from the scene screaming their heads off. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering I have never seen or heard of her running from a fight, or letting her spirits fight for her. She was always fighting alongside them.

Continuing through the forest I pulled her to a stop when I saw something slither along the forest floor, blending in with the dead leaves and dirt. Lifting her up and placing her onto a boulder that was at least two feet high I scanned the floor for the snake. It wasn't normally native to these parts, but if Ashton had been summoning monsters this one would have heeded the call especially at the chance to eat some humans. The snake was a mix between a viper, rattler and chameleon, that's why it blended in so well. It was also one of my favorite venoms to eat, and if I was able to catch it alive I'd be able to harvest enough to last me maybe a month.

Leaning down to nick my leg with my nail, hard enough to draw blood I listened for the bloodlust to take over so would be distracted enough to let down its guard, making it easier to spot. I didn't have to wait long for the snake to take the bait. The familiar hissing, and rattle of its tail alerted me to its presence to my left and I turned just in time to catch its head as it bit down into my leg. Gritting my teeth at the pain I grabbed hold of its wriggling tail and the base of its neck, about to ease the teeth out of me.

"Erik!" Lucy yelped, causing me to turn towards her while unintentionally tearing the inch-long teeth out of my skin, causing the wound to enlarge and release more blood. When she came into view I saw her jumping from the rock, flicking her whip out at the right moment to catch a large branch that hung at least five feet above her. Scrambling up the whip she hugged the trunk of the wall as she pulled out one of her keys. "Sagittarius!" She yelled, foregoing the full summons in her urgency. Following her pointed finger down to the base of the tree I saw another one of the snakes circling it and preparing to lunge up. Cursing that I forgot they liked to hunt in pairs I readjusted my grip on the snake I had, to keep its mouth shut while I sprinted over to the other one.

Stopping short I winced as arrow after arrow entered the snakes body, only serving to make it angrier. The only way to kill it was pierce its heart that was about a foot below the area the horse was shooting at. Withholding that information because I still wanted the snake alive I watched the snake try to slither up the tree only to be sent crashing down with each arrow.

 _Why. Won't. It. Die? Moshi moshi._ The spirit thought with each arrow it shot into the snake. The closer it got to Lucy the more arrows that rained down, until one of them caught one of its eyes and forced the snake to release its hold on the tree. Running forward I grabbed hold of the furious snake that was squirming to get the arrow out of its eye. Looking up to see if Luce was alright I felt a moment of panic as I saw an arrow heading towards me.

Turning my back to it so it wouldn't hit anything vital I waited for the impact but it never came. Hearing the distinct whistle of another arrow in addition to the one that was already heading my way I turned around to see the first arrow set off course as another pierced it and sent it flying away from me. Looking up at the horse I saw him salute me before bowing to Lucy and disappearing.

"Sorry about that. He didn't know you would just pluck the snake out of thin air. Uh…um…I know you had Cubellios and all, but does that mean you'll be keeping those?" Lucy asked as she remained where she was high up in the tree pointing down to the squirming bodies I had a hold of. I chuckled at her reaction. Taking a step back from the trunk of the tree I ignored the wriggling bodies of the snakes as they tried to escape and watched her but as she shimmied down the tree. The only thing that would have made the view better was if she had been wearing one of those short skirts.

"No Cubellios was the only snake for me. I'm harvesting the poison out of these two before offing them. Did you want to pet one?" I teased hold the less angry of the two up towards her as she descended the tree. With a squeal she clutched the branch hanging above her and curled her legs underneath her, putting more distance between her and the snake.

"Erik get that thing away from me." She demanded glaring at me while keeping a cautious eye on the snakes.

I laughed again, but mid-laugh I closed my eye and shuddered as the poison from the snake's bite coursed through my body. To a normal person the amount of venom in my body would have killed them barely a minute after the bite, but for me it was like taking a shot and having it burn down my throat, but it was that feeling throughout my entire body. It didn't hurt per say, but it did give me a welcomed rush and burst of energy.

"Erik?" Hearing Lucy cautiously approach me I opened my eye and grinned at her.

"I'm fine, just enjoying the poison." I said. Turning away from her as I walked a few feet to a pile of rocks and placed a large rock on each snake just below their head to keep them from escaping and moving too much. Digging through my pack I growled when I realized I didn't have a container to put the poison in and was about to dump out a bottle of bleach when two delicate hands held out a glass bottle with a rubber stopper.

Mumbling my thanks, I got to work sticking my hand into the mouths of the snakes and yanking on their four largest teeth and milked the venom out of them…very slowly. Despite the tedious task I patiently collected every last drop of venom they had to offer before killing them quickly so they wouldn't feel any unnecessary pain.

When I finally looked away from the snakes I realized that an hour, maybe two, had passed by the shadows the trees gave off. Scanning the area for Luce I became alarmed when I didn't see her. Cursing I stoppered the bottle and chucked it into my pack as I listened and smelled for her. Catching a faint scent of strawberries, I headed east following the trail. Finding her moments later in a small clearing I watched as she and Capricorn exchanged blows, although none of them actually made contact as each of them gracefully evaded each other's attacks.

That went on for a few more minutes before Lucy ducked under the spirit's leg as he kicked out and swiped a leg across the floor, causing Capricorn to lose his balance and fall. Seeing her grin in triumph I took a step forward snapping a twig with my foot. Looking towards the sound Lucy smiled at me briefly but that little distraction was enough for Capricorn to knock her onto her back and pin her to the ground. After struggling to get out from under him and failing Luce reluctantly surrendered and took her spirit's offered hand as she got up.

"I almost had you." She pouted. Dusting herself off she walked towards her pack to pick it up.

"Indeed you did, but you let yourself get distracted and took your eyes off of your target. As I've told you numerous times not to do, I might add." Capricorn said with his arms crossed.

 _But you did wonderfully none the less Miss Lucy. I only wish you would practice more and follow my recommended diet._ The spirit thought his emotions both proud and chiding at the same time. _At least you've begun to spar again…you took such a long break after-._

"As your companion is now unoccupied I will be taking my leave now." Capricorn said cutting off his thoughts with a look to me before vanishing.

"Does he ever get tired of saying 'I told you so'?" Luce grumbled as she walked towards me. "I mean seriously I work my butt off to keep up with him and I don't get a 'good job', or a 'maybe next time', it's nothing but criticism with him."

I decided to ignore her ranting and leave the spirit's thoughts to himself, since I understood that him leaving out his praise was intentional. It gave the blonde something to work towards. Something to take her mind off of her more depressing thoughts.

Chuckling as she continued to pout as we walked towards the town I watched as gold shone through the darkness of her soul and took over a small portion of it. For the next hour I waited for the gold to fade as it had when it last appeared during our first time together but it didn't. The golden portion remained surrounded by the black.

"Luce-." I started then stopped myself when she pointed at something through the trees.

"Look Erik I can see the town." She said excitedly. I could have told her we were close to the town considering the air smelled deeply of the salty spray of the ocean but I had been preoccupied. Matching her quickened pace we exited the forest and entered the town.

 _Are they…visitors? How did they make it through the forest?_

 _They're here to save us! I just knew the mayor wouldn't let us down._

 _I can't believe someone finally made it through the forest, they must be pretty strong mages to have gotten here, and without a scratch on them!_

The thoughts went on and on, every citizen was happy to see us and excited to be able to travel once again. We didn't even need to ask for directions to the mayor's house since I was able to figure it out thought all of the mindless chatter that was floating through my head.

"This way." I grunted, feeling a headache come on and my leg throb making me realize I never tended to the gash in my calf and that my sock was hard and crusty with the dried blood.

Sitting heavily on a secluded bench I undid my belt and yanked down my pants surprising Lucy who looked around frantically for anyone. When she turned back to me her face was bright red.

"Eric what are you doing? Have you lost your mind?!" She asked through clenched teeth, her anger only deflating when she noticed the hole in my calf. "Oh my…why didn't you tell me about this before!? I thought it was only a bite, not a fist sized hole!" She said dropping to her knees in front of me and pulling out bandages and a vial of goo from her pack. She had me step out of the pants, and take off my sock and shoe before using one of her water bottles to clean the wound as best as she could. Wrinkling my nose when she opened the vial I watched as she gathered a lot of it in her hands and slathered it around the hole and then onto the bandages before applying them. Lastly she wrapped it up in an ace bandage to hold everything in place.

Looking at the blood covered sock and shoe she shook her head and skimmed her keys with her hand. A second later the maid arrived, her arms full with a new pair of shoes, socks and pants.

"Princess I have brought what you requested. Punishment?" She ended in a hopeful voice.

"Thank you Virgo, and no, no punishment for you." Taking the clothes out of her hands she waved to the spirit. Ignoring my glare Luce placed the fresh clothes beside me on the bench and removed the other shoe and sock, giving them to the maid along with the rest of my stuff. Before I could protest they, along with the spirit disappeared.

"Stop glaring Erik. You needed more clothes and Virgo's happy to get you more." She said moving away so I could get dressed.

"I'll pa-."

"Yes I know you'll pay me back. Really Erik you need to learn that I don't need to be paid back. I care about you which is why I'm giving you this stuff. I like taking care of you- you know what, why don't you get dressed, and I'll meet you at the mayor's house." She said with a shake of her head, leaving me behind..

Dressing quickly, I joined her at the mayor's house as she was being let in and directed into a sitting room to wait for the mayor. In silence she turned her back to me with her arms crossed and looked out of the window. Just by her rigid stance I could tell that she was annoyed with me, or hurt by my always insisting I needed to pay her back. Wanting to fix whatever happened I decided to break her self-imposed isolation and grabbed her by the belt loop of her pants and turned her around. She resisted at first but when she saw my face she relented and uncrossed her arms.

"I'm sorry Eril. I-."

"Thank you." I said interrupted her as I pulled her to me. "I'm not used to this…kindness. I've always had to work for what I wanted, and if something was given to me it always came with a steep price. I'll…try to not be so suspicious of your gifts, but I can't promise it'll happen right away." I said gruffly, uncomfortable with apologizing but it was worth it when I felt her arms wrap around my waist as she hugged me.

Nodding, she smiled and leaned up for a kiss. She had wanted a chaste one but I had something else in mind as I pulled her closer and lifted her feet off of the ground to deepen the kiss. I nipped her bottom lip demanding entrance and plunged in when she granted it. Capturing her muffled moan with my mouth I let my hand wander under her shirt, caressing her side until I reached my destination. I had her panting as I palmed her breast, but right as I slipped my hand underneath her bra to meet with her silky smooth skin I heard voices heading down the hallway towards us and growled in annoyance.

Abruptly ending the kiss, I removed my hands from her and took a step back and looked at the door to the plush sitting room we were in. "Someone's coming." I said adjusting myself and standing a little behind Lucy so no one would notice the bulge in my pants.

Unnecessarily Lucy straightened her clothes and ran a hand through her hair before calmly tucking her hands behind her back and donning her serious face before the mayor of the town strode through the doors with a thankful smile on his face. When he saw Lucy his smile widened and his thoughts went from saving his town to lecherous and illegal thoughts. When he stepped forward with the intention of drawing her into a grateful hug, and 'accidentally' groping her ass as he did it. Growling silently, I grabbed Lucy's arm and pulled her back while I took a step in front of her, so the old, plump man's view of her was obstructed. When Lucy let out a squeak of protest I tightened my hold on her arm to silence her.

"I can hear your thoughts old man." I snarled, showing him my sharp canine teeth and reveling in the smell of fear that wafted from him and how his whole face blanched becoming the color of the white ass walls that surrounded us. "Now that we've got that out of the way tell us what we need to know so we can get out of here. And if I see any of your guards following us, looking for an opportunity to snatch Lucy once the job is done I won't hold back and will make it a point of coming back here to beat the hell out of you." Seeing him gulp and nod in agreement I squeezed Lucy's arm one last time before letting it go and crossing my arms.

"...Uh...um...there are only five mages that we've seen so far. We had always known they were there, but they never bothered us before until maybe a year ago. They ah... around the time they started acting up herds of monsters flooded to forest that borders our town and made it damn near impossible to leave other than by boat. Since we…ah…we've been struggling ever since their appearance we jumped on the offer Akane Resort gave us and agreed to sell them the land right away, but they were smart enough to send someone out here to take a look before finalizing the deal and demanded that the forest be cleared before we saw any jewels." He said, sweating profusely as he did so. I looked at him in disgust as he wiped away beads of sweat that rolled down his head before it could reach his eyes. The back of his hand came away, dripping wet. Curling my lip in disgust I snarled at get him to continue.

"We aren't sure where they're holed up, but our guess is the series of caves a few miles out that have been swarming with monsters, more so than any other place." Having the man confirm the whereabouts of the guild was all I needed. Pushing Luce towards the door while keeping myself in between her and the pig I snarled at him once more before slamming the door shut behind us.

"I'm not sure what that was all about but it didn't sound good. If he was really planning on kidnapping me we can't just let him continue to be the mayor! Think of all of the other women here that are in danger." She said as I pulled her away from the overly large house, when we were a few blocks down I released her. "Erik!" She said stomping a foot at me. Looking at the childish gesture, and the fighting spirit light her eyes up I grinned as a flash of her jumbled thoughts reached out to me before retreating. Following it I was surprised to see that I could feel her general mood, which was a step up from the nothingness she radiated at the guild. "Erik I swear to Mavis I am not leaving this town until he is dealt with."

"Chill out already Luce. After the thoughts I had to endure for that little time he isn't getting off easy. We'll contact the old man, Makarov, and let him know what kind of mayor is set up in this desolate place. He's bound to deal with it. And you needn't worry about the other women in the town, he only preys on those that come for a visit and hasn't been able to since the monsters appeared since no one visits anymore." I said, keeping my mind open for any signs of the mayor's lackeys. "About the dark guild...we got to talk about that before we make any plans."

At my sudden change in the tone of my voice, she glanced at me in concern, simply nodding when I didn't say anything else. Foregoing the hotel rooms that were so 'graciously' offered to us we made it back to the small cave we had found on the outskirts of town and made camp there. After everything was set up, our bed rolls connected and a large blanket draped over it, a small fire burning in the front of the cave but hidden by a stack of stone we put around it, Lucy sat down on her half of the make shift bed and watched me, waiting. I fiddled around some more with the fire and the cooking food thinking about how I wanted to tell her about my past involvement with the dark guild we were about to go up against.

Instead of pussy-footing around the subject any longer I dove right in, explaining how we had formed the guild to do the work we thought beneath us, and all about the individual mages and their powers. As I talked she listened silently, nodding when I would stop talking just to look at her and see if I could get a read on her as I had after we left the mayor's house, but I wasn't able to. I guess her walls only came down in extreme emotional cases. I trailed off after finishing with my theory that someone had to be leading them now because none of them were smart enough to come up with the plan to bring monsters in the forest, and steal more than just gold from the citizens. Taking my moment of silence as the end she nodded one last time.

"From what you just told me I'd have to agree that someone has probably taken control of the guild. I don't know why you were so worried about telling me all of this it wasn't bad at all...there's more isn't there?" She asked intuitively, bracing herself when I tensed and broke eye contact. "Just spit it out Erik."

"When I said that the five of them met our every needs I meant _every need."_ I said putting more emphasis on the last words so she would get my meaning. I could tell she did when her eyes widened before she shut down and motioned me to continue. "Sorano had her playthings, Aston and Blaze. Racer had Edger and Midnight and Brain weren't interested in any of them so that left the last two for me."

"So not only are we going to fight your former guild, we are also fighting your exes?" She asked with no indication to how she felt evident in her voice.

"No for them to be exes we would have had to do something other than fuck-shit." I said with a curse scrubbing my face with my hands. "We fucked. That's it. I didn't want it to come as a surprise when we met up with them because knowing the two of them they would have been all over me in a second. They thought they were in love with me, and since I was a prick back then I had no problem letting them continue to think what they wanted and getting what I wanted out of them. But that is all I wanted, just sex. For me there was no feelings, nothing other than the need and want to get off." I cringed realizing I had basically just snarled all of that to her face. I didn't like these emotional conversations, and I sure as hell didn't know how to go about it without getting defensive. "What I'm trying to say is that they meant nothing. All of the women in my past were nothing to me."

"All of the women…" She whispered before shaking her head. "Well it's not like I thought you were a virgin or anything..." She said looking at me. She had her emotionless mask on making it even more impossible to tell what she was thinking. But in the next second I saw her shoulders shrug and then relax. It was then I realized I was either fucked or was lucky enough to have somehow explained it well enough to get me out of trouble. As the expression returned to her eyes I took in her smile and watched her warily half waiting for her to snap and go off about how much of a man whore I had been. Already expecting some sort of attack I flinched when her hand reached for my face but stood still willing to accept whatever she dished out if it meant we could give this thing between us a shot. When she placed her hand on my cheek, cupping it, I was surprised and it took me a minute to relax enough to lean my head into the hand she used to cup my cheek. "Thanks for telling me ahead of time. I don't think I would have been as understanding if I had seen them attack you with affection when we found them."

I grimaced at the thought of them trying to rekindle the farce of relationship we had. _I didn't want them, and I sure as hell didn't want them touching me again._ I thought pulling Lucy to me so our bodies were flush against each other. "You're the only one I want attacking me." I teased smirking at her and wagging my eyebrows at her. With a short laugh she stuck her tongue out at me but before she could return it to her mouth I swooped down and captured it with my mouth and sucked on it. Groaning at the sensation she clutched the back of my shirt before pushing me away. Stumbling when I felt the edge of something soft I landed on a bed of pink wool that had a blanket laid out on top.

Giving her a questioning look she shrugged in answer. Pulling her shirt up and over her head I salivated at the sight of her purple lace bra that cupped the breasts I so badly wanted in my mouth. Moving to stand up I was stopped by a boot clad foot to my chest pushing me back onto the bed. Ceasing my attempt to stand up I unzipped her boots one by one and slid them off and threw them to the side. Leaning back, I waited for her to join me on the bed but instead she raised her arms above her head and started swaying to an unknown beat. Watching her hips sway side to side as she shimmied the skin tight jeans down her legs I grinned when she revealed the matching lace panties she wore. Like the bra they held something I wanted and was impatient to get to.

But my plan to pull her down onto the bed when she got close failed when instead she knelt in between my spread legs and ran her hands up from my knees to the top of my thighs, stopping short of the obvious bulge in my pants.

"Luce." I groaned lifting my hips to urge her hands higher, but she dug her fingers into my thighs holding me down. Once I settled back down her hands moved to the zipper of my pants, hovering over it.

"Did they undress you?" She asked looking at me as she unzipped my pants carefully, yet somehow avoiding touching my erection.

"What?" I asked distractedly.

"Did they undress you?" She asked again, this time I heard and understood the question.

"No." I answered shaking my head as I lifted my hips so she could slide my pants down and off, pulling off my shoes and socks as she went. Although I was glad to be free of the confines of my pants I still wish she had taken my boxers off too.

She hummed at my answer, slowly sliding her body against me as she crawled up between my thighs, until her lips brushed my neck. Taking a hand, she gripped my chin and forced my head to the side to give her the access she wanted. Licking my neck, she blew a puff of air over the wet spot causing me to shiver.

"Did they shower with you?" She whispered into my ear, licking the outer rim of it before sucking the lobe into her mouth.

"Who-no!" I changed my answer when she started to withdraw from my ear. I could feel her grin against my ear before she mumbled 'good' right before returning her mouth to my ear.

Groaning I lifted my hips and ground against her, making her gasp around my ear and I thought she would get this show on the road and finish undressing me but a second later she released my chin and brought both of her hands down to my hips and pushed them down onto the bed, away from her. Holding my hips there so they wouldn't move she continued her ministrations and sucked the sensitive area just below my ear.

"Luce they meant nothing to me." I groaned hoping that by saying it she'd let me do as I pleased. But she just hummed again and moved from my ear to my neck. Kissing and sucking on it leisurely. "Luce…"

"Yes Erik?" She said pulling away from me. "Would you like me to stop?" She asked knowing full well that, that was the last thing I wanted. When I remained silent she went back to what she was doing ignoring my suffering.

"Did they call you Erik?" She asked kissing her way to the other side of my neck.

"Never. They only knew me by Cobra." I gasped when my answer was rewarded by her releasing my hips and then her straddling me. Groaning when I felt her warmth through the thin barriers that separated as she rocked over me while kissing my neck. Her juices were soaking through our underwear as she continued to hump me over our clothes. I willed myself to not flip her over and rip off the purple lace before I snapped into her. No obviously she had something to prove. Although jealous Luce was killing me slowly at the moment, I was enjoying it immensely.

"Did you fuck them bare?" She asked releasing my neck and stopping altogether. Looking down at me as she waited for my answer.

"Never." I said vehemently. "You're the only one."

This time instead of a hum of approval her brown eyes met mine and she smiled. "Good." She said before falling off of my lap and laying back onto the bed. Looking up at me she crooked a finger and rubbed her thighs together enticingly before spreading them, inviting me in.

Without hesitation I whipped my shirt and jacket off, my boxers somehow joining them. The clothes had yet to hit the ground as I jumped her and latched my mouth on the skin at the base of her neck. Giggling she welcomed me, and opened her mouth when mine descended on hers once I made sure she would have my mark on her for the next few days. When I was seated in between her legs she wrapped them around my waist and thrust against me. Pulling away from her I let my hand slip between us and slide past the lace. Without warning I thrust two fingers into her soaking core and curled them, grazing the spot that made her back arch and her moan loudly.

"Erik I need more." She said in between thrusts, as she tried to guide my cock to replace my fingers. But I kept it away from her greedy little hands and continued to brush over the spot until I she reached the brink. Just as she was about to cum I'd withdraw my fingers and kiss her as she struggled to create some sort of friction to finish. When her hands came dangerously close to what I considered mine I pinned them over her head with one hand and continued to tease her with the other. Alternating between kissing her and sucking her lace covered breasts I grinned at every little gasp and growl of frustration as I backed away from her right as she was about to come.

"Erik. Stop teasing." She demanded breathlessly, trying to look stern but failing miserably. Her eyes were filled with lust as she looked down at me, and she licked her lips when she took in my bare chest.

I grinned around the breast in my mouth before releasing it. "Are you attached to the lace?" I asked eyeing it admiringly but needing it to disappear.

"Not particularly." She answered, only to gasp when I tore the bra from her with my teeth and ripped the underwear off with a yank of my hand. Working her clit with my thumb as my fingers thrust into her, I brought her to the brink again, but this time I let her spill over. As the first spasms rocked through her I pulled my fingers out of her and brought her hips up and thrust into her.

"Erik!" She moaned, her spasms intensifying as she came again. Letting loose a groan as I slowly seated myself fully into her, I remained still as the last of her spasms stopped squeezing me, trying to draw me deeper into her warmth. When she opened her eyes again she locked them with mine and dug her nails into my butt urging me to move. Slowly rocking my hips into hers I waited to hear the buzzing of her soul opening up to mine. With each thrust into her the buzzing grew louder until finally I was able to read her.

 _Oh Erik._ She moaned mentally, hooking her arm around my neck to bring my lips to hers for a searing kiss. The slow pace continued, with her hips moving in time with mine as we kissed, but when we let up for air Luce moved her hands to my arms and racked her nails down them. "Faster Erik." _Please go faster._ She thought and instantly I complied, changing our slow rhythm with a much faster one. Lifting her hips higher off of the bed to get a better angle I held her suspended and thrust into her deeper and faster just as we both wanted. I wanted to keep going like this forever, having her open to me and staring at me as if I was her everything, but she squeezed her walls around me with each thrust causing my controlled pace to falter. Groaning I dropped her onto the bed and buried my face into her neck and bit it as I let instinct take over and snapped my hips into hers over and over.

 _God I love it when you bite me._ She thought arching her neck into my mouth and racking her nails down my back.

Growling around her neck I released my teeth, and sucked on the marks bringing her blood rushing to the spot. Looking down at the now red spot in satisfaction I grabbed both of her hands from my back and interlocked our fingers while dragging her arms up and over her head. As I thrust into her we locked gazes and watched each other as we each got closer to coming. When her eyes drifted shut as the first tremors rolled through her I growled and her eyes popped open.

"Keep them open, I want to watch you as you come." I gritted through my teeth as I held back my orgasm until Luce began coming. When her eyes widened and her mouth opened in a silent gasp I drove into her three more times before stilling and releasing myself into her. When she had sucked every last drop out of me I collapsed onto her our sweat soaked bodies sticking together. When she grunted and pushed on my sides I wrapped my arms around her and rolled us so she was on top.

Unlike the other times we had been together this time I was wide awake afterwards and not in a hurry to get anywhere. When I felt the buzzing still coming from her, afraid to move in fear of her walls appearing again I shamelessly listened in on her thoughts.

 _Hmmm Erik. I'm not sure what this is exactly but I hope it lasts for a while. Maybe longer than a while. I don't know how we got here but finding you at the prison and nursing you back to health was one of the best decisions I've made in a while._ She thought while drawing finger doodles on my chest. _Once we finish the job and find a way for Aquarius to return to Earthland I wonder if you'd like to use those VIP passes. Would you like going to the resort? I doubt it's your thing but it'd still be nice to relax out on the beach…maybe find a nice secluded part and – No Lucy, don't go there. Public sex is so not going to happen._

I was about to protest her taking public sex off the table, but remembered last second that I wasn't supposed to be able to hear her.

 _Although it might be exciting. In the water. On the beach. On the roof beneath the stars… Nope. Not gonna happen. We can just have sex in our room like normal people do._ She thought shaking her head as she stopped her doodling to just lay her head on my chest sighing. _I really hope we get to use those passes, otherwise I think I'll just give mine away._

 _Her inner monologue was ridiculous to be honest. But when we used those passes, and I have every intention of using them with her I'm sure I could talk her into sex on the beach, in the ocean, even on the roof._ I grinned. _I bet I could even get her to do it on the train to the damn resort._ Chuckling I felt her freeze and lift her head up to look at me. When she saw me grinning she balked and paled.

"You heard all of that didn't you." She stated, rather than ask. When I didn't answer right away she scrambled off of me, both of us groaning as I slipped out of her. "You said you couldn't read me!" _Oh Mavis! Has he been able to hear me this entire time? Was he lying to me- no he wouldn't do that! He wouldn't have done that; I know he wouldn't have. This is just a fluke._

"Luce, Luce! Chill out you're right, I haven't been lying to you and I wouldn't lie to you, especially not about this. I still can't read you, at least not normally. But when we're together like this…" I gestured to the two of us "then I can sense your walls disappear and for a short time I'm able to get a read on you. I didn't want to say anything before because I didn't know if it would happen again or if it was just a one-time thing. And when it happened the first time I didn't realize that it lasted a while after, because we fell asleep so quickly but right now I can hear you loud and clear. And I have to admit I'm enjoying every second of it."

She groaned and covered her face with her hands. _Oh my Mavis. Why did he have to hear all of that? Couldn't he have heard my thoughts on our mission or on how jealous I was when he told me about those two women. But no he has to hear me basically think that I don't want this to end and that I like the possibility of a future for us. Oh and yeah about the damned public sex. Damn Mira for telling me about her experiences with Freed -_. Mid thought she groaned again and peaked at me through her spread fingers.

"Damn it! You heard again. How do I get my wall back up?" She asked desperately looking anywhere but at me.

I froze at her question.

"Luce…that wall isn't doing you any good. I told you before that if you continued on like that it could only mean bad things. I didn't want to say anything before but now that you're interacting with your spirits more, your soul is starting to heal a bit, not to the extent where I'd like it to be but it's a start." I sighed when I saw she still hadn't relaxed. "If you really don't like it when I read you I can teach you to block me. But I like listening to you think, I like hearing you debate whether or not we should have public sex, I'm all for it by the way." I said with a grin. "And yes I plan on using those passes with you, even if there is no public sex, bedroom sex it fine too." I chuckled as she hid her face again, groaning as she laid down beside me with her head in the pillow.

Flipping her onto her back I pried her hands from her red face and waited for her to open her eyes before continuing. "I don't want this to end either. As for what we are let's just say you're mine." I shrugged.

"Does that mean you're mine then?" She asked cautiously. Thinking about it for a second I realized I didn't mind being hers one bit, in fact I liked it.

"Yeah we can say that." I said watching her beam at me in happiness, while another bit of her soul went from black to gold.

 _I like that a lot Erik._ She grinned at me knowing I could hear here. But sadly her thoughts were sounding more distant as her walls started to return. _I really like you._ She thought still grinning up at me.

We stayed in the bed well into the night until the stickiness made us seek the nearby river to clean off. Taking advantage of our isolation we tested out the idea of sex out in the open in the river until the last rays of sunlight disappeared and the moon rose high above us.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: So I know my updating has been pretty sporadic but I stupidly enrolled in summer quarter full time and am swamped with homework and projects. It also didn't help that I was freaking out about looking my writing journal that had all of my notes and ideas for this story, but luckily I found it - after a near break down. YAY!**

 **Not promising another chapter within the next week but I will start working on it as soon as I have some free time.**

 **Hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

 **Lucy POV**

Despite our unexpected late night Erik and I woke up before dawn, when the birds were barely chirping. We didn't dawdle as we quickly ate breakfast, broke down camp and packed up our bags. Once Virgo took our bags to the Spirit World we headed out of the cave and into the monster infested forest once again. The first rays of sunlight were just breaching the branches a few miles into our hike as Erik led us to the caves Inferno called home. To be honest the fact that he knew where Inferno hid out made our job way easier. Looking around at the endless forest I cringed at the thought of having to comb through every area of it to find the series of caves they called home, and even with a Dragon Slayer available I doubt they would be able to scent the mages, especially not with the monsters roaming the area. Even without enhanced senses I noticed the stench of the various beasts, and their excrement that littered the forest.

As we walked I asked Erik how it was that he could read me during those brief moments during and after our time together and he didn't have an answer for me. For it being his power, he was just as lost as I was. I had gotten so used to the fact that he wasn't able to read me that my thoughts flowed freely and I didn't think to censor them. Things could have been worse I guess, he could have not told me that he was able to hear me and let me continue to believe that I was immune to his soul reading. Despite him telling me about my new found vulnerability I'm pretty sure he thought about not telling me, that hesitation when I had initially asked him, and the look he gave me as he told me he had heard everything I had just thought told me that he begrudgingly told me.

I wasn't too sure how I felt about it all, but Laxus and the Ranijishu got along fine with him, and their thoughts had been open to him since day one. If they could do live with it then I guess, I could too. I didn't want Erik to think that I didn't like that part about him, because I have to say him being able to read my mind last night might have been the reason the sex was better, and that was saying something considering it was pretty stellar to begin with. Grinning at the thought I made up my mind that I'd have him teach me how to block him, but I wouldn't use it all of the time, only when I had a surprise for him.

Nodding to myself I was about to tell Erik when he stopped short, turned around to look at me right as the ground vibrated as something landed directly behind me. A second later I was lifted into the air by a huge hand that was covered in white and grey fur. Screaming and kicking at the hand I turned my head to see a giant ass Vulcan grinning down at me while drool escaped its mouth, barely missing me as it fell down to the forest floor.

"Pretty girl." It said bringing me up to its face, it's foul stench and bad breath making me gag as I continued to struggle to get out of its grip. But everything I did was useless, I couldn't reach my whip, I couldn't reach my keys, hell I couldn't even raise my arms from my sides where he kept them restrained. Closing my eyes as he brought his face closer I felt my hair lift up and flow towards him as he inhaled through his nose to smell me. "Pretty girl smells goo-ow!" It yelped jumping a few feet and landing back on the ground, creating a loud noise and denting the ground beneath him.

Looking down at the ground I saw that Erik was a few feet away, and the lingering signs of his Poison Dragon Roar were disappearing around the legs of the Vulcan. I wasn't the only one however to look down, the Vulcan had too and was now in the process of trying to squish Erik with its oversized feet.

"My pretty girl." It huffed. Gritting my teeth at the pain that blasted through my head as I was shaken I tried wiggling free since I felt its hold on me loosen during his game of whack-a-slayer. Eventually getting one hand free I pushed against the top of his hand with mine and slowly pulled myself from its grasp.

Luckily it was still distracted by Erik's continuous attacks and his ability to dodge the giant feet as I pulled my whip free and hooked it around the nearest branch that looked sturdy enough to withstand my weight. Without a second's thought I jumped off of its hand and swung away. My departure was somehow noticed as the beast roared and I saw him swing his hand out to capture me again. Barely thinking I released my whip from the branch and fell right as its hand passed through the area I had been hanging. Grunting I flicked my whip to another branch to stop my fall, but it broke once my full weight was hanging from it. Accidentally releasing my whip as I fell I winced as I crashed into several branches on my way down, each one sending me flying into the next. It felt as if each time my chest and back hit one a second wouldn't even pass before more pain shot throughout my entire body making it nearly impossible for me to hold in my cries of pain.

By the time I slammed into the ground my body was one giant ball of pain and I hardly noticed more being added to it as I oh so slowly rolled onto my back since lying face down in the dirt was making it more difficult for me to breath. Staring up at the tops of the trees that blocked the sky from my view I shook my head a couple of times trying to clear the blurry spots from my vision, but it only made it worse.

Shutting out the light that only seemed to make everything worse I turned my head away with a groan and watched as Erik raced to get to me before the Vulcan. He made it seconds before the beast, skidding a stop in front of me and blasting it with another roar, this time it sent the monster back a few feet, and also left a purple cloud that circled up its body.

I watched as the beast threw his head back and roared before bending over in a fit of coughs. The coughing went from bad to worse within a minute causing it to fall to his knees, jolting me with the impact.

"Erik." I croaked out watching in horror as the Vulcan began spitting up blood, some of it landing dangerously close to us. At my voice Erik stopped watching the scene before us and turned to me, quickly tearing a piece of his shirt off and wrapping it around my mouth and nose.

"Hold your breath." He mumbled picking me up and walking away from the dying Vulcan. When I lost sight of the Vulcan he until the makeshift mask and continued walking. No matter how far we walked I could still hear the beast cough and cry out in pain, until five minutes later the forest went eerily silent signaling that it had finally died.

"Erik wh-." I stopped as I groaned in pain. Even though he was gently cradling me in his arms it still hurt with each step he took. "What was that?"

"I released some of my poison with the last roar. I usually wouldn't do it but I didn't have another option since we couldn't let it take you again…not in this condition." He grunted, stopping by the shore of the ocean and setting me down in the warm sand. "Luce…" he said his hands hesitantly hovering over me unsure of what needed to be done.

"It's fine-I'll be fine I promise. I just need to rest a bit, and to call Virgo." I said lazily running a hand over my keys to call my spirit. Her request for punishment died in her throat as she took one look at me before disappearing and returning just as quickly, this time with a small basket full of odd plants that felt of the Spirit World and my whip in one hand.

Opening my mouth when I was directed and swallowing whatever she put to my mouth I remained as still and quiet as possible as she dressed the various cuts I got from the fall. An unusual warmth flowed throughout my body as she treated me and Erik walked away. The warmth felt good, and I could feel the worst of the stiffness and internal pain fade away.

"Thank you Virgo!" I grinned at my spirit who nodded and packed up what was left of her supplies. With her help I sat up, and eventually was able to stand after a few minutes. Reassuring her that I was alright on my own I waved to her as she left.

"Damn it I should have just killed it in the first place." He growled spinning away from me.

"No, this isn't your fault. If it hadn't been for you I would have been in more pain, and maybe would have broken something. Plus, my safety is not your responsibility. I am perfectly capable of protecting myself, it was just a stupid mistake that I blindly wrapped my whip around the wrong branch and went tumbling down. Nothing you did caused that." I said leaning against a tree as I watched him pace away.

"I told Laxus that I'd protect you." He scoffed with disgust. "I did a damn fine job of that didn't I?"

Ignoring my body as it screamed out at me that I shouldn't be moving quite yet, I pushed off of the tree and stood in front of him to stop his pacing. "What could you have done, hmmm?" I asked getting annoyed as he avoided looking at me. "Nothing. It was my brilliant escape plan that got me into this mess, I could have chosen to just scale down the Vulcan, or hung on to my whip or fought from my position but I didn't. Really Erik, you did more than enough. After being captured my Vulcans multiple times with my teams and watching as they got distracted with each other while I was being carried off I got used to escaping without them. They meant well but Natsu and Gray just can't seem to stop themselves from making everything into a competition, including who gets to save me. So what you did, not getting distracted and leaving me alone with it is more than enough.

"If it makes you feel better you did protect me, because after that fall I wouldn't have been able to fight it off, and would have been injured even more. So thank you." I said stepping up to him so I could wrap my arms around him and resting my head over his beating heart. He didn't return my hug and remained silent for the longest time; just when I was going to release him I felt his tense muscles relax and his arms encircle me in a crushing hug as his head fell onto mine and he breathed into my hair.

"Luc-"

"Well isn't this nice." A man's voice sounded in the distance, the snapping of branches and crunching of leaves finally registering in my mind. Groaning at the interruption and Erik's sudden tenseness I dropped my arms from around him and stepped away, turning just in time to see five people walk out of the thickest portion of trees.

"I'm assuming these are the mages." I said looking at them as they lifted their hoods up and off as their black cloaks fell to the ground. Yes, cloaks, I understood Jallel's need for secrecy but these guys had a whole damned forest to themselves, why did they need cloaks? Reminding myself to focus I watched as recognition lit their eyes as they ignored me and looked at Erik.

"It's Cobra!" One of the guys said excitedly, the smallest of the three, while the other two crossed their arms and frowned at us. While the guys had a silent stare down with Erik I noticed the girls grinning and whispering before they sprinted towards us.

I ground my teeth as I watched the two women run up to Erik, but before they could squish him between themselves he stepped away and looked at me. _Yes, he knew that if he had let those two touch him he would have been in a world of hurt after we dealt with them._ I thought angrily as I continued to watch the two bimbos. I glared at them both, begrudgingly admitting that they weren't ugly. If Erik hadn't been so forth coming with the information about his past I may have been a little jealous of the two of them when they had greeted him with attempted hugs and kisses before he shut them down.

"Cobra!" The blue haired one whined, pouting at him. The other one, didn't say anything only crossed her arms and looked at him with puppy dog eyes.

Rolling my eyes at their antics I flicked my whip so it hit the ground right in front of them causing them to jump back with a scream. Grinning maliciously at them I stepped in front of Erik. "Get the hell away from him." I snarled, at the sight of me they gasped and backed up, most likely reacting to my pissed off glare and the unintentional release of power that caused my hair to whip around slightly.

"Wha- do you know who you're talking to little girl?" The woman sneered trying to save face by taking a step forward. I glowered at being called little girl, yes I had lost seven years, yes she was technically older than me but I could already tell that she was definitely lacking in the maturity department. She oozed whininess, and I imagined she'd have said something else that would have gotten on my nerves if Erik hadn't stepped in.

"Shut it Felicity." He sighed tiredly rubbing his forehead. "Mentally too, dimwit. I couldn't care less how much you missed me, and for the love of god stop reminiscing. Those times were shit compared to what I have now and those memories aren't going to entice me back to you two."

"Cobra!" She cried, looking actually hurt. If she had cared so much about him them why not break him out of prison? "You don't mean that! You can't! She's just a child, just look at her!"

"I'm well aware of what she looks like and nothing about her says child. You're more childish, both of you are. Now can we cut through the bullshit? What the hell are you guys up to, and why the hell did you summon all of these monsters Ashton?" He growled, glaring at each mage.

"So it's true you've grown soft on us and joined the fairies." The bulky red head spat. "We thought you of all people wouldn't fall for their stupid antics."

 _How did they know he joined us? That only happened two days ago, and only the guild is aware of that. I definitely know it's not something they would want to advertise with the way they felt about Erik._

"Can you just answer the question?" I asked restraining Erik when he took a menacing step forward. "Why have you done all of this? What does Inferno gain by terrorizing the town and eliminating tourists, wouldn't you want more people to come here to prey on?"

"We are no longer known as Inferno, instead we have been renamed the Resurrected Oracion Seis." Aston said proudly stepping forward and standing up a little taller with each word while jutting his chin up in the air... _I think he was posing but that would just be ridiculou_ - _no he is definitely posing, so is everyone else._ I thought in horror as everyone else took a similar stance. I looked at the five ridiculous mages and barely hid my mirth behind my hand and was forced to look away from them. Instead I looked at Erik to see that he was still in shock and was becoming more furious as time went by.

"Erik." I gasped and leaned against him for support. Feeling the anger come off of him in waves I no longer could contain my laughter. Letting loose I bent forward and wrapped both of my arms around my stomach and laughed uncontrollably. The dark mages did not take that well, but Erik wasn't distracted from his anger and continued to plot everyone's murder I'm sure.

"Is that bitch laughing at us?" I heard one of the women say, and looked up to see who it was while wiping away the tears from my eyes. "I'll show her." The blue haired woman said, Stacy, if I were to go by Erik's descriptions.

In the next second I felt my body temperature rise, and felt a burning sensation within. Opening my mouth to release a silent scream I glared at the woman. Erik had warned me about this so I wasn't entirely surprised but I hadn't been prepared for the amount of pain it would cause. Imagining the pain of my body boiling from within was completely different than actually experiencing it. When I put my hands on my knees and leaned over to prevent myself from falling I felt Erik's hand on my shoulder and shrugged it off quickly when his body heat just added to the pain. After a few deep breaths I was able to stand up straight again. For a moment I closed my eyes and focused on finding the source of the boiling and doused it with the magic Aquarius had left behind as a parting gift.

When I had woken up one day to find that her tattoo had disappeared I had been devastated that the last link to my spirit had been taken away from me. My sadness had triggered a Juvia type reaction and the rain had cascaded down on my apartment while it sprinkled elsewhere, I hadn't caused the rain, no it was already doing that when I had woken up, luckily it was early enough that only the few night owls were up and hadn't noticed the strange phenomenon. When I went to the guild that day Juvia had looked a little frazzled and kept looking around the guild for something out of the ordinary. Using my need for rent as an excuse I had quickly picked a random job and left before she could link the rain to me.

Sighing as the scalding fluids in my body simmered down I opened my eyes and glared at Stacy defiantly before smirking. Without looking at the ocean next to us I felt for the water and coaxed it to rise, while still battling for control over the water within me against the shocked Water Mage. The gasps from the mages in front of me, and from the Dragon Slayer beside me sounded in the distance as I pulled a stream of water over head and began doing figure eights with it, until I made up my mind as to what I wanted to do.

I could visibly see the Water Mage tire out in front of me and decided to wait her out to show her what an actual Water Mage could do. Not even five minutes later she collapsed to her knees and stared at me in horror as the water above our heads grew larger with each figure eight it completed.

"If I hadn't been able to counter your attack I might have died, but it was still very weak and any other mage could have just dispatched you before you actually got the water boiling for more than a few minutes. Hell the mages I know wouldn't even have had to move to take you out, or knock you out. And what kind of guild are you that you just stand by and watch your comrade fight. If anything you should have attacked me the instant, you felt her call her magic. Maybe, just maybe you could have gotten the jump on me if Erik hadn't been here - No you fools, you don't attack now. So much to learn, but so little time." I said with a sad smile. "Now which one of you controls the monsters out there?" I asked locking gazes with the thin mage who timidly rose his hand. Nodding I nodded my head towards him and summoned Virgo to restrain him.

"Punishment Princess?" Her normal greeting sounded behind me, more eager than usual. She must have known why I had called her and was anticipating the job I had for her.

"Not for you Virgo, but these mages will be getting some. If you could please detain the mage with his hand up, and persuade him to stop antagonizing the monsters and let them go back to their homes that would be wonderful." When I saw her smile widen, and her take a step forward I decided to add something to keep the mage intact. "Only enough punishment to get him to do what we want. Definitely don't do anything you do to your spirit friend or she does to you. We want him alive and sane in the end." Virgo visibly deflated at her fun being restricted but then proceeded to drag the struggling mage behind her with a smile on her face.

"Again, you did nothing to help your guild mate. Even if you think you're going to lose you need to at least _try,_ for all you knew I was gonna torture him to death. Erik, I know you were in a different place back then, but honestly you found those two bimbos attractive?" I asked in disgust, the feeling only intensifying when the two in question preened at what they thought was a complement and fluttered their lashes at the Dragon Slayer. "Yeah we're done now." I said. "Who told you guys to start terrorizing the town, and to fill the forest full of monsters?"

When they stayed tight lipped I looked to Erik and raised my brow. His grimace didn't bode well. "Klodoa." He said looking to the side his glare intensifying at what he saw. Following his gaze, I saw the monstrosity that was Jackpot, but with him he had a Wyvern on a leash, fighting to break free and eat the snacks in front of him. "You fucker, you left us at the damned Clock that was _your_ idea." Erik growled taking several steps forward before calling his Dragon Roar and blasting Jackpot backwards into the waiting building and freeing the Wyvern from his leash.

When the wyvern bypassed us and charged in the direction Virgo had taken Ashton I sent her a mental warning, and had Loke join her in case she needed help.

Letting Erik deal with his anger over the obvious betrayal and my spirits handle the wyvern I turned my attention back to the remaining four mages and dropped my water onto the anxious mages who had taken their eyes off of me to watch the giant slot machine make its way forward. Still, after my lecture and all, they didn't make a move to help one of their own. Looking at them in disgust I watched uncaring as they struggled for breath unsuccessfully. When I saw their eyes widen before slowly closing, faces turning a light shade of blue and their struggles gradually cease I released my hold on the water and made sure they all had a pulse before pulling out some rope from my pack and tying them all together. Even if the Fire Mage wanted to burn the ropes he would end up hurting his guild mates in his attempt to escape, but based on their earlier action, or lack of, I doubted he would care if they got hurt as long as he was free. Checking the mage for anything that could start a fire for him to use I tossed them into the ocean before turning towards the actual fight.

Belatedly I realized that even though Erik had been able to read everybody else's attacks before they happened he wouldn't be able to do that with Jackpot. If anything he would only get a second's warning before the machine fired out his attack.

 _Stupid gambling, and unknown results._ I thought as I tried to figure out a way to help Erik. Scanning the machine for any sign of weakness I grew frustrated when I didn't find one right away.

"Bomb-drop Bonus!" The machine yelled in delight as dozens of bombs rained down on where Erik had been.

Jumping from the tree branch he had been crouching on Erik landed on the ground and ran towards Jackpot. "Poison Dragon Roar!" He yelled aiming it at the middle of the machine.

Three curved arrows appeared on the reels a second before the roar could hit. "Return!" Cursing Erik skidded to the side narrowly missing his own attack reflecting back at him.

Growling menacingly Erik turned back to the giant machine and charged at him. "Poison Dragon' Claw." The attack was a direct hit on the machine's legs making it fall to the ground momentarily before it began laughing. Bouncing up easily the dirt cleared and I could see that there had been no damage done by Erik's attack. By the look on his face I could tell Erik was just as shocked and pissed off about it as I was.

Jumping back quite a ways Erik reassessed the situation and started mumbling to himself as he circled around to find some sort of weak spot.

"Lighting Bonus!" The machine yelled triumphantly as all three reels revealed a lightning bolt. Within a few seconds dozens of lightning bolts appeared out of nowhere and attacked the area surrounding Jackpot, the area that Erik had just been in. Yelping as one of the bolts landed a little too close for comfort I jumped backwards and watched hopelessly as trees split and fell and dirt and dust filled the air making it impossible to see if Erik was alright.

Hearing a familiar groan come from the center of the now damaged area I took a step forward as if to run to it but stopped when I saw that Jackpot was standing in the same spot unscathed and looking down at my slayer. Those damned reels spun once more revealing three boxing gloves. "Punch!" He yelled as mechanical arms sprouted from his sides.

Groaning Erik weakly got to his feet. "Poison Dragon's Guard." He said crossing his arms right as the hands slammed down on him. Despite the poison shield the hands repeatedly hit him, giving him no chance to escape or retaliate.

Silently calling Virgo away from her fun I asked her to get Erik out from under Jackpot's fists by digging a hole beneath him. As she did that I circled around the machine until I was behind him. Looking at the smooth back of the machine I groaned when I saw no way to shut him down. But when he threw his head forward during one of his punches on what I hoped was nothing but dirt now, I saw a seam at the base of his neck.

Secretly sequestering water from the ocean I sent a wave towards Jackpot, knocking him forward while directing water through the seam of the metal. Shoving as much water in there as possible I ordered it to boil and grinned in satisfaction when I heard gurgling and a yelp of pain from within. I kept up with the water attack and dodged the flailing arms and legs that tried to lash out at me from the ground. I was slow during one of the attempts though and was knocked into a tree by the edge of his foot.

Groaning I lifted my head up from my chest and decided that I was safe from the machine over here and continued my attack while sitting down. I wrapped an arm around my stomach, leaning forward a little when pain shot through my chest.

"Lucy, are you alright?" Loke asked as he knelt down beside me. Nodding I accepted his help up and leaned heavily on him as we watched the hatch on the back of the neck pop open as the magical stick popped out of the machine.

"Ow. Ow. Ow." It said jumping around sporadically. As it hovered in the air Erik's hand lashed out and caught the stick right below its head and squeezed. Instantly it froze. "Cobra old buddy! How've you been?"

Erik only growls in response and catches the bottom of the stick with his other hand before it could attack him. When I heard wood crack I looked away and hobbled over to our packs. Grabbing the lacrima I had dropped unknowingly I contacted the closest division of Rune Knights to come and get the dark mages and what was left of the magical object.


	7. Chapter 7

**An: Over a month since my last update and I am so sorry for that! School was hectic until finals week and then once finals week hit I was even more stressed out. Anyways I am sorry and hopefully you won't have to wait that long again. My unrealistic goal is to finish this fic before fall quarter starts – but that is wishful thinking and will most likely NOT happen. :'(**

 **This chapter is smaller than the others because every time I went to type it up my brain would rebel and not focus. I literally would turn my laptop on, start typing then minutes later close my laptop because nothing would come to me.**

 **Anyways I hope you enjoy it and I'm sorry for any mistakes I may have missed.**

* * *

 **Lucy POV**

I half listened to Erik as he continued to mutter to himself about his fun being cut short by the large force of Rune Knights that had appeared almost immediately after I had called them yesterday. Within minutes after they had shown up they had taken custody of the four mages and hauled away the pathetic excuse of a dark guild, locking them into the back of the SE vehicle that that bars on the windows to keep them from escaping. It was a wonder to me how those mages were able to defeat everyone else who had come looking for them, they hadn't been difficult at all to beat. The only real challenge I guess was that stupid slot machine and the water mage. The others just stood there doing nothing. Sad really.

Thinking about it now I guess we did have an advantage over the other people who had gone after the dark mages. Erik luckily knew all of their powers, and we had an easier time finding them because of his heightened senses. And I guess if I wasn't able to counter Stacy's attack from within my body we would have been in trouble. But from what Erik had told me she wasn't strong enough to do that to more than a couple of people at a time. Still if she could incapacitate a couple of enemies the rest of her team probably attacked whoever was left, but for some reason that didn't happen in our case.

Trying to wrap my head around the entire fight was impossible, trying to dispel my thoughts with a shake of my head I looked up and winced when I saw Erik stumble and catch himself before he could fall face first into the huge footprint that created a semi deep hole in the ground. Yeah we were still in this god forsaken forest despite the dark mages being detained. That little shit Aston said something to all of the beasts causing them to scatter all over right before the Rune Knights too him away. We had watched as that shit for brains laughed and laughed as he left Erik and I with the task of dealing with the monsters.

Unfortunately for us several of them had been living in this forest for a while and had made themselves right at home in several caves. Normally it wouldn't have been a problem for us but when you add in offspring to the mix, the monsters had a tendency to be more violent and territorial making our job way more difficult than it should have been. At the rate we were going it would take us days, maybe even weeks to eradicate enough of the beasts for the construction crew to move in and start tearing down the trees before building began. Groaning at the horrifying thought of being stuck out here for that long I stopped walking and glared at nothing.

"Erik." I said but he either didn't hear me, which I doubted, or he chose to ignore me because he kept on stomping away while muttering to himself. "Erik!" I said louder this time, picking up a stray pine cone and tossing it at his head just in case he chose to ignore me again. Before the pine cone could hit him his arm shot out and caught it, all without looking back at me. When he finally decided to turn to face me he did so with a smirk, revealing just a hint of his sharp teeth.

"Luce, I heard you the first time, there's no need to get so violent." He chuckled tossing the pine cone in the air then catching it with his other hand as he walked back to me. "And no, we aren't splitting up to cover more ground. It's a terrible idea – don't give me that look, you're still locked up nice and tight, no pesky thoughts leaking out…unfortunately." He growled the last word under his breath, causing me to smile which he of course noticed and snarled in response.

"Why can't we? Splitting up would get this job done quicker so we can go back to town and sleep in an actual bed, and take a nice long bubble bath." I wasn't quite whining but it was pretty damn close. Wincing as I re-adjusted my pack over my shoulder I waited for his answer but could tell by the dark look on his face as he came up to me and gently, but angrily snatched my pack away from me. Cutting off my unspoken protests with a withering glare.

"That right there is why you're not going out on your own." He said between clenched teeth. "Shit Luce, have you even looked at yourself? You're covered head to toe with bruises, the only part of you that isn't colorful is your face, hell barely even that since you have a black eye."

I sighed heavily, he wasn't wrong every part of me had some bruising, it was definitely times like this that I hated and envied the Dragon Slayers for their seemingly invincibility and quick healing. Catching a glimpse of my colorful arm I glared at it while muttering an oath. Knowing nothing I said would change his stubborn ass mind while I looked like this I walked past him, attempting to grab my bag back but failed miserably. Righting myself from a near face plant that would have added a few more scrapes and bruises to my already battered body I sighed again. I was being ridiculous and I knew it. If I was in Erik's shoes right now I'd probably be acting like he was. Hell I'd be hovering which I was thankful that he wasn't doing that otherwise I would have lost my temper. Running my hand through my hair in frustration I winced when I came upon a patch of hair that was caked in dried blood and dirt.

I hated this. I hated having to rush bathing because a monster always decided to pop up when I was in the middle of cleaning myself. I hated being a burden, I hated not being able to move without feeling a twinge of pain. I just plain hated this entire situation right now, but most of all I hated that I was being so whiny. Sucking it up I turned around to face Erik, who was still playing with the pine cone I had threw at him. He must have seen how miserable I was because he walked up to me, to place both of his arms around me so he could bring me closer to him.

"Don't sweat it. I felt even worse when I was cooped up in that blasted infirmary for what seemed like forever. Consider this pay back for not letting me do anything fun when I first woke up." He chuckled and leaned forward to place a gently kiss on my forehead.

"Fine we'll stick together, but the next lake or river we come across I'm cleaning up while you stand guard and it may take a while." I warned, tilting my head to the side when he nuzzled his nose into my neck.

"You do smell…" He said audibly sniffing me. Shoving my hands between us I began to push him away when I felt and heard him laugh at my outrage. "…amazing as always." He added holding me to him gently and landing a kiss on my lips before I could say anything. For a moment I forgot about the job, my aches and my need for a bath and sunk deeper into the comfort of his arms. But sadly my reprieve was shattered by the growls ahead of us. Groaning I slipped from his hold and unhooked my whip from my belt and followed after Erik who was already half way to the cave in the distance.

Even though I had given up trying to split up from Erik to cover more ground I wasn't giving up on getting this job over with as soon as possible. For the past day I had been wracking my brain for a solution to our little problem but only came up with one thing that I was hesitant to try since I wasn't sure if I would have enough magic to defend myself fully against the beasts. My tentative plan was to send Loke and Capricorn out on their own to scour the forest and defeat whatever beasts they found. If into turn would consume quite a bit of my magic, but I wasn't sure if having them be miles and miles away would make it more difficult on me or not. When I brought it up with my spirits they didn't have any answers for me since none of their previous masters had ever sent them away to do a task, so it would be new for all of us.

Hearing Erik shout my name from the mouth of the cave I muttered 'fuck it' and ran my hand over my keys, silent summoning Loke and Capricorn. "We'll try the plan, if either one of you feels something off or gets hurt just return to the Spirit World and report in to me. And yes, if I get overly tired I'll let you two know." I said walking backwards to wave to them. "Be safe!"

"Always my love." Loke said, blowing me a kiss before he took off.

"Of course, Princess. I hope you will do so as well. " Capricorn said with a bow before heading in the opposite direction that Loke took. Once they both left I focused all of my attention on the task at hand and unhooked my whip from my belt and ran into the cave to help Erik out.

Dodging a wild tail by rolling underneath it I quickly came to my feet, ignoring my screaming muscles I wrapped the whip around one of the Wyverns' necks and slammed its head against the side of the cave. Moving back as the dazed Wyvern stumbled I helped it along and pulled its front feet out from under it causing it to slam into the ground. Hearing it roar in pain I cringed when I saw that it had landed awkwardly on one leg. Watching it carefully I edged away from the enraged Wyvern until I was safely outside of the cave, giving me more room to maneuver around if need be.

A sudden drain on my power had me leaning heavily on the nearest tree and taking deep breaths. I could feel my spirits' concern for me but I assured them it was just the shock of having so much magic used at once, which was half true. Normally when two of them were fighting at once I had a noticeable drain on my magic but this time the drain was worse, yet still bearable it just definitely took some getting used to.

But I didn't have the novelty of time as the Wyvern came staggering out of the cave at an unbelievable speed considering it had a broken leg. Scrambling out of the way just in time to avoid being smashed into the tree I tried calling the water from a nearby creek to me and was rewarded with a pathetic amount of water that wouldn't be able to help me.

 _Note to self, work on water magic, and expanding my magical reserves._ I thought to myself as I rolled out of the way of fly rocks and bark.

"Poison Dragon Claw!" Erik said from behind me as he jumped over me and met the Wyvern head on, intercepting the incoming teeth that were meant for me. The slayer's attack raked across the Wyvern's face, one claw taking an eye with it as Erik moved away. Blood pour out of the five slashes and the now empty eye socket. Roaring in pain the poor thing took to the sky, blindly spraying chunks of ice down on us in its attempt to still win this fight. I did well enough avoiding the chunks of ice, but with all of my stiff muscles I just wasn't fast enough and the last thing I remember before darkness took over was a swirl of purple shooting towards the Wyvern as it unsteadily flew away.

 **-4 DAYS LATER-**

 **Erik POV**

I was pushed aside none too gently by Lucy as she bolted into our hotel room and made a beeline towards the bathroom. Chuckling at her desperate need for a bath I entered the room and kicked the trail of clothes to the side before dropping our shit on the edge of the king sized bed. Wandering around the room I closed all of the shades to block out the sunshine and grabbed the room service menu before hopping up onto the bed.

Despite being near town for the entire job we failed to return for food each day since we were too exhausted each night to make the trip. Instead we ate whatever Virgo dropped off with us before Luce's spirits continued their search of the forest. Day after day I could see the toll having two spirits out basically the entire day had on her. She barely ate, spoke and when we would stop for the night she would pass out on our sleeping bags within seconds. But as always Luce pretended that it didn't bother her and pressed on despite her exhaustion.

When I first found out she decided to send out her spirits to help us with the job I wanted to be annoyed that she would put herself at risks moments before we went after a couple of Wyverns, luckily everything worked out for the best even though she was knocked out for a few minutes. Once she came too and we set up camp in a safe location nothing could have stopped me from tearing into her. She didn't even try to defend herself because she knew it had been a horrible decision to make moments before a fight. But begrudgingly I had to admit that her crazy plan paid off in the end; with the help of her spirits we were able to wrangle the rest of the beasts in record time _after_ we agreed that she needed to test out the distance thing some more so she wouldn't be so disoriented during the next fight.

Snorting because I knew that if the time came again Lucy thought she could help she would, even if it put her in danger. She couldn't help herself, which was one of the things I admired about her, and one of the things that most concerned me. Her self-preservation skills needed to improve and she needed to focus on her safety more.

Opening the forgotten room service menu on my lap I picked out a shit ton of food that I would order before heading out to collect our reward. Using the lacrima provided by the hotel I put in our order and headed towards the bathroom after hanging up. When I pushed the door open I was assaulted with a wave of warm air and saw that the window and mirror had fogged up from the steam. The bathroom had a separate shower and bath, and I could see that Lucy had made use of both of them; the shower to wash off the worst of the dirt from her body and hair, then the bath to soak in…and fall asleep in. Walking up behind her I knelt down and moved her hair to one side.

"Luce…Luce…" I whispered into her ear, expecting her to freak out but she must have been too tired to exert much energy so all she did was push my head away while mumbling.

"Go away, I'm sleeping."

Chuckling I squirted a generous amount of shampoo into my palms and began massaging it into her already clean hair, the little sounds of pleasure she made had a certain body part rise to attention but I ignored it and continued to wash her hair. "I ordered basically the entire room service menu and it should be done in a half an hour. I also left them explicit instructions to knock twice before wheeling in the food and leaving it just inside the door so you don't have to let them in."

"mhmmm…" She moaned, tilting her head back when I poured water on her hair to rinse the shampoo out.

"I'm going to the mayor's place to pick up our reward and meet a few Rune Knights who are taking him into custody. The replacement mayor should also arrive around then so I'll fill him in on what has been happening." Makarov had been furious when we told him about the mayor's little 'hobby' of collecting travelers and hadn't wasted any time in finding a more suitable replacement. He hadn't arrested the current mayor yet because Lucy had asked him not to. She was afraid that if he was arrested before we got our reward she wouldn't get the book, so instead asked a few Rune Knights to keep an eye on the mayor and make sure he didn't kidnap any more women while we finished the job.

"Make sure you get the book. Oh and can you ask the replacement to look to see if he can look for any other books that may be useful please? Tell him I will pay for any that he finds. Hopefully there are more and he can find them before we leave town in two days." She sighed putting her hand over mine that was resting on her shoulder.

"Sure thing Luce." Tilting her head back, I briefly captured her lips with mine. "This shouldn't take long…unless the fucker decided to put up a fight." I said almost hoping the mayor would resist arrest.

"Really Erik?" Lucy asked peaking up at me with a raised brow. "We just spent the better part of a week straight fighting and now you want to fight some more? Just thinking of using my whip or calling one of my spirits out to fight makes me cringe. I plan to live in bed for the next couple of days before we leave. No fighting, no dirt and definitely no monsters."

Patting her head as I chuckled at the goofy grin on her face at the thought of doing nothing but relaxing I stood up and headed to the door. "Don't forget the food will be here soon, don't walk around the room naked, or in your lingerie." Waving away my warning she sunk deeper into the tub until all I could see was the top of her head. Leaving the door cracked a little so she could hear when someone knocked I dumped the contents of one of our bags onto the bed then slung it over my shoulder.

Exiting the hotel through the back door I slipped in and out of alley ways until I met up with a group of five Rune Knights who all gave me a wary look, they all remembered all of the trouble I had caused them in the past, and the friends they had lost during Oracion Seis' last bid for power. Leading them to the mayor's house I told them to wait until I left with the reward before they arrested him. The five of them mentally grumbled about having to listen to a criminal as I left the alley and walked up the steps to the mayor's house.

The door was answered within seconds of me knocking and I was quickly led to the room where we had first met the mayor, but this time he was waiting for me on the plush couch.

 _Where is that lovely partner of his?_ The mayor thought looking behind me through the open door hoping to see Lucy. When I growled his attention quickly turned to me and he began imagining me tearing him apart, limb by limb. His thought was looking more and more appealing the longer he stared at me.

"The job is done I'm here for the reward." I said.

"Oh right…the re…reward. It's right over here – but you can stay there I'll get it for you." He said quickly when I took a step closer to him. When he pulled out a bag of jewels and began walking away from the desk I cleared my throat.

"The book and passes you promised too." I snarled, my patience wearing thin.

"Oh I thought it'd be nice if your partn- never mind I'll ju-just give it all to you." He quailed in fear as I growled and bared my teeth.

 _I'm just going to have to let that delectable morsel go… at least for now. Maybe when they're leaving town, or while they're sleeping…_ his thoughts trailed off as he remembered that I could hear what he was thinking. Staring at me wide eyed he all but shoved the tickets, book and bag of jewels at me before calling one of his servants to escort me out of the house.

Before the servant ushered me out of the room I backed the mayor into the corner. "That better be the last thought you have of my partner or else." I threatened, wrinkling my nose when I smelled that he had soiled himself. Taking several steps away from him I sneered at the evidence. "Oh and please resist. It will make my day to tear into your worthless hide." I could see the confusion in his face as I left the room, and how the butler shook when I was near him.

Slamming the door shut behind me I heard the butler sigh in relief and sag against the door. Seeing the Rune Knights right where I left them I leaned against the building across from the mayor's house and gave them the okay to arrest the mayor. It was a joy to watch as they dragged a struggling mayor out of his house. He was probably mid change when they had charged in because he was missing his shoes, and wet pants leaving him in just his yellow underwear and buttoned up shirt. The mayor was saying that this had all been a big mistake and was in the process of bribing the Rune Knights when he spotted me and ceased all of his struggles and whining. Paling even more when I bared my teeth at him I laughed when he all but sprinted into the back of the carriage the Rune Knights had pulled up to cart him away. Once he was secure and the carriage was on its way is when I walked up to the new mayor who was being escorted by the remaining Rune Knights.

"If you find any books on rare magic, mainly Celestial Mages, let me know. I'll pay you for any that you find." I said, handing him a piece of paper with Luce's contact information on it before turning away and heading back to the hotel.

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 **AN: Again sorry for the long wait! But I just wanted to thank everyone who has read, reviewed, followed, and favorited my fic(s) I really appreciate it and hope you continue to enjoy my stories! Love you all!**

 **Let me know what you thought please and thank you!**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: All i'm gonna say is I'm sorry for the long wait, and that this chapter is so short. But I hope you enjoy it anyways!**

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 **Lucy POV**

The moment Erik returned to the hotel room I snatched the book from him and curled up under the blankets on the couch. Erik chuckled at me before making a beeline towards the cart of food. Dragging it to the couch Erik plopped down next to me and began devouring everything I had left untouched, which was basically everything except a bowl of seafood mac and cheese that I had ate happily. Patting my stomach at the thought of the cheesy deliciousness I flipped the book over, inspecting it while burying my feet under his legs so I could steal his warmth. By the look of it the book was old, really old. The age of it didn't discourage me, instead it brought the spark of hope raring up as I carefully opened the cracked leather book.

Of course a book this old regarding rare magic wasn't going to be in English, but that was alright because since Aquarius' key broke I have needed to relearn how to read various languages, finally putting the education my father demanded to use. It took me a while to get into the groove of reading the book, but once I did it was easy for me to skim past the parts about other rare magic, including Dragon Slayer magic, and healing, two sections that I'd translate later so my friends could read it if they wanted to.

Finding the section of the book I was anxious to read towards the end of the book I stopped skimming and read each word carefully, making sure that all the information the book had to offer would be stored forever. It was hard for me to read each word instead of skimming the entire section for key words that referenced broken keys or repairing them but I didn't give into temptation.

Two hundred and five pages later and not a single word on broken keys. However, at least half of the section was about the history of the keys which included a blurb about how they were made. Apparently there was a town hidden in some unknown forest that was filled with the people who had made all of the Celestial keys. Considering this book was written centuries ago, and was falling apart at the seams it'd be safe to assume that the exact location of the town was lost. But Luckily there was a crude drawing of a map that I'm sure I could decipher given the time and access to a few older maps.

I was happy and frustrated at the same time. Happy because this was the first major tidbit of information that could actually lead me to a way of bringing back Aquarius and frustrated because I really just wanted to find a 'how to' book so I could get immediate results instead of having to run around looking for more clues. My warring feelings must have shown on my face because I saw Erik place his half eaten bowl of ice cream down on the food cart and shift sideways so he could look at me.

"Dead end?" Erik asked, gently prying my clenched fingers from around the book as leaning over me to set it on the side table.

"No this book was more helpful than any of the others I've read. At least it's pointing me in the right direction…hopefully. Apparently there was a town dedicated to the people who made the keys and since my luck sucks right now there was no specific location given, just a vague description of the forest they were in, that could be almost any of the dozens of forests in the country. And that's assuming the town was in Fiore, since we didn't have defined boarders it's possible the town could be in any of the surrounding countries. I just need to get my hands on some older maps, like a hundreds of years old, but not even Fairy Tail has maps that old, neither does my family estate." I said with a heavy sigh and slumped backwards so I could stare at the ceiling. "I guess I could call Freed to see if he has any, or knows of anyone who does, but going back to the guild is the last thing I want to do considering how we left things. I'd like to give the guild some time to cool off and realize how ridiculous they are being before we go back, otherwise I'm liable to hurt someone, and I really don't want to do that and add to my guilt stores." My attempt at humor was met with silence and an odd look from Erik. I knew what he was thinking, and what he was about to say. No matter how many times I heard it, whether it was from Loke or Erik, I felt guilty about breaking Aquarius' key. I basically sacrificed one friend for another and it majorly sucked because I had no other choice. Waving him off before he could go into one of his spiels about how I shouldn't feel guilty for doing what I had to do I sat up and maneuvered myself so I was leaning against him. "Before you say anything let's just forget I said that last part. I know I shouldn't feel bad for saving everyone, but I do and that makes me feel even worse. Unfortunately, there is nothing anyone can say or do to make the guilt go away. So instead of ruining the night with a useless argument let's just move past it. Okay?"

I felt rather than saw the fight leave him because he knew I was right. Nothing he said could help me feel better right now, and I appreciated him even more for understanding that. Snuggling in deeper in his side I pulled the blankets over both of us and relaxed.

"If we have to go back to the guild to get the maps you need then we'll go. Don't worry about how we left things, or how I feel about their bull shit. You know me, I couldn't care less what those fools think of me, Luce. You know that. Do I get annoyed having to listen to their stupid thoughts all damn day? Hell ya. But it'd be worth it if it would mean that you were one step closer to finding a solution and bringing back your spirit." He said, sending a soothing hand up and down my side, comforting me.

Have I mentioned recently how perfect Erik is?

"You're perfect you know that Erik?" I blurted out without thinking, not regretting my confession for a second. He gave me a disbelieving look. "What I'm serious! It's like you know just what to say, what to do to make me feel the tiniest bit better when no one else can. You've been my rock for months and instead of saying I was being crazy for attempting to find some way to restore Aquarius' key, something even the Spirit King said was impossible, you stuck by me. I really appreciate it, and am glad that you're here with me. I couldn't have asked for someone better."

I'm sure I spooked him with this confession but I wanted him to know how I felt. Since we started sleeping together we haven't really talked about our relationship, or whatever we were to each other and for now I was fine with that.

"Luce I do-." I put a finger to his lips.

"You don't have to say anything. I meant every word of it, even if you don't feel the same." Planting a kiss on his cheek before getting up I offered him is now half melted bowl of ice cream and smiled when his took it, still looking dazed. "We have to plan where we are going next. If I'm not mistaken Sabertooth should be within a days' walk from here. Since it is closer than my family estate we might as well go there first – RUFUS!" I yelled excitedly, running for my bag that held my communication lacrima. Within seconds I was calling Yukino, since I only had her contact information saved. Pacing back and forth in front of the couch as I waited impatiently for her to answer I silently prayed that Rufus was at the guild and not away on some job.

"H-hello?" A sleep filled voice answered my call a second before the picture came into focus revealing Yukino's bed head along with a hint of someone else behind her in bed. Grinning inside I made a mental note to ask her when she started seeing Sting once I got to her guild.

"Yukino! I'm sorry to bother you but do you happen to know off the top of your head if Rufus has old maps of Fiore and the surrounding countries? They'd have to be at least a century old. If you don't know can you give me his contact info? Wait, please tell me he's at the guild and not away on a job." I said hurriedly.

"Lucy? Do you know what time it is?" She asked with one eye barely open. Behind her I heard grumbling before Sting lifted his head to stare daggers at me. Yukino took a second to register what I was seeing but once she did her face turned beet red. "Uh…uh…shit."

I laughed. "We'll talk about that when I get there in a couple of days. But the maps can't wait."

"Fuck blondie, maps? You woke us up at three in the morning for fucking maps?" Sting growled, throwing himself backwards to lay back down on the bed.

"The maps are important I swear. And to be honest I didn't realize what time it was, Erik and I were just planning on where to go next, and then I remembered Rufus is just as likely as Freed to have the maps I need, and since we are closer to you guys…" I trailed off when I saw that I was losing Yukino as her eyes closed all of the way. "Yukino?"

"Sorry Lucy, we just went to bed an hour ago." I chuckled at what that implied. Hearing me her eyes popped open all of a sudden and she was even redder than before if that were possible. "No-Not because of _that!_ We just got back from a job." When I just raised a brow and her and smirked she stuttered some more before changing the subject. "Maps…maps. I think he does have a few maps that old. I'm not sure what counties but- wait did you say you'd be here in a couple of days?"

"Yeah, now that I know he has those maps Erik and I will cut our relaxing short and head on over in a day. Thank you Yukino, I'll let you go back to 'sleep' now." I said with a chuckle.

"We were just sleeping Lucy…wait who is Erik?" Before I could answer her a hand came from behind her and took the lacrima from her, and was promptly shut off despite her protests.

"You enjoyed making her squirm did you?" Erik asked, grabbing my wrist and pulling me onto his lap.

"A little. Think of it as payback. She teased me mercilessly when I started going out with Gajeel. I've been waiting for this day since after the Games. I knew back then it was only a matter of time before they got together." I smiled, remembering how much Yukino had protested when I first asked what her feelings were for the blonde Dragon Slayer.

Feeling Erik reach for the remote for the lacrima screen on the wall I moved to get up, but was stopped by an arm around my waist.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked looking down into my eyes.

"I just wanted to get the book, I want to read everything I skipped. There was a section on Dragon Slayer magic that might be helpful to you and the others. And I know Wendy would love anything about healing. Plus, it'd be good to read the Celestial magic section again, I might have missed something the first time." He released me after I explained. Once I got the book I tried to get comfortable next to him, but he quickly stopped my attempts, lifting me as if I weighed nothing so he could put me back in his lap. When I got comfortable and was just beginning to read the book I felt him place a kiss on the top of my head as he draped the blanket over me before giving the lacrima his full attention.

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 **AN: Hoped you liked it! Please let me know what you thought. Please and thank you!**

 **Thank you for sticking with the fic, despite my erratic updating schedule!**


	9. Chapter 9

**An: School, work, recovering mother and tutoring my little brother took over my life for the past two months and I am deeply sorry that I haven't been able to post anything in so long.**

 **This chapter may not be as good as the rest because I'm kinda lost as to how I can get the story where I need it to go. So bear with me as I try to get back into the groove of things again.**

 **Thanks everyone for sticking with it and again I'm sorry it took so long.**

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 **Back at the Guild**

A week went by without a single word from Lucy, something that never happened before. Even though Lucy had been distant with nearly everyone she always made a point of checking in every few days as a curtsey so no one would freak out and mount a rescue party. But by the fifth day of no contact the guild finally let what happened before she left sink in and realized that they may have run off their beloved Celestial Mage.

With the fear that Lucy was well and truly fed up with the guild's antics a lot of the guild members could be heard talking about how Erik wasn't so bad, and how if Lucy would just return that they'd apologize and give him a real chance or at least stop sending the Poison Dragon Slayer such hostile glances. Hearing the mutters of the guild, the Thunder God Tribe was hard pressed to believe the sudden change in the guild and could hardly contain their sarcastic remarks when at the guild.

"Mira, have you heard from her yet?" Wendy asked from her seat at the bar. With a shake of Mira's head Wendy's hopeful look turned to one of grief and worry. "I hope she's alright." The kid murmured to herself.

"Who you talking about kid?" Gajeel said, plopping a hand on Wendy's head in greeting as Levy, Lily and him stopped by the bar to report in from the job they just got back from. While Levy talked to Mira about the job they had just finished Gajeel looked at Wendy, waiting for an answer.

"Lucy… No one has heard from her in a while and that's not like her. But considering how the guild behaved right before she left I wouldn't be surprised if she needed some time away. But I wish she'd at least let someone know." Wendy finished with a sigh, her shoulders drooping even more.

"What the hell happened? It'd take a shit ton for the guild to piss her off." Gajeel said gruffly. Crossing his arms, he looked around the guild and noticed that no one would meet his gaze for longer than a second before quickly looking away. When Levy stepped up to him, he slid an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into the crook of his arm.

"Well… She wanted to go on this one job but Mi-…uhm, someone protested because Laxus was going to make it an S-class job but hadn't gotten around to it. So, that person demanded Lucy take Team Natsu, or someone else who could do the job. Lucy flat out refused, and since Cobra was going to go with her she didn't see the need for anybody who was S-class. But that just made Mi-…uh, the person madder and then Laxus and that person started arguing. But anyways I guess Cobra heard some people thinking some not so nice thoughts about Lucy and why she was hanging out with him and got mad. Then she left for the job and here we are." She said nervously glancing behind the bar at still bar maiden who was rubbing a glass dry harder than she needed to.

"What do you mean she left with that Poison Prick? I thought you were going to take care of that shit Laxus!" Gajeel yelled, tensing up. "I can't believe the guild just let him go with her! He's not even a member of the guild, he can't go on jobs."

"Uh…actually that's one of the reasons Laxus and that person argued. Laxus gave Cobra a guild mark before the fight started, and made Lucy S-Class." Wendy said, clearly the bravest of the guild members considering she was the only one who didn't scuttle away from the Iron Dragon Slayer when he began yelling. "That was eight days ago, and no one has heard from her since."

Wordlessly, Gajeel stared in disgust at the cowering guild before stalking towards the front door. He didn't even make it halfway there before Laxus blocked his path.

"You-" Gajeel started, not slowing his pace down any, planning on meeting the other slayer head on. However, he was brought up short by a rune wall that suddenly appeared in front of him. "What the hell? You too much of a pussy to fight me?" He growled, punching the wall.

Laxus ignored the barb. "Why don't you go back to your girlfriend Gajeel. Lucy's fine."

"Levy knows I love her, she also knows that Lucy is one of the few people I care enough about to go looking for, when no one else has the balls to. Hell, she even agrees that Lucy should never have been allowed around Cobra." Gajeel said looking smug, until a voice sounded behind him.

"…I don't agree with that, never have. You just assumed I did because every time you brought it up I'd direct your attention elsewhere, or tried to. Sure, I was hesitant at first when Cobra was brought back with from the prison, but when I saw how Lucy reacted to him I let all my doubts go. He's good for her. Everyone can see that something is going on with her, something she can't or won't share with us, but if Cobra is the one that makes her feel better, or is the only one she will be around then so be it.

"I'm just glad she has someone to lean on at this point. I know everyone-" Laxus cleared his throat in protest "- okay, most of us believed she was upset because of the break up but that's not true, never was. When we first started going out I admit that I freaked out and wound up going to her apartment and breaking down. I was afraid I was going to lose my best friend and didn't know what to do. But I'm glad it happened because she put my fears to rest and reassured me that her mood had nothing to do with us being together. In fact, she told me how happy she was that two of her favorite people were happy together." The entire guild was silent after Levy stopped speaking. They were finally realizing that it was entirely possible for Lucy to be upset about something other than the breakup, and they felt guilty over how they had been behaving.

"Finally they get it." Bickslow muttered into the silence, drawing everyone's attention to the nodding Thunder God Tribe. "Don't blame us for your stupidity. We've all been wondering when it'd finally click for the rest of you, sad to say we had given you all way too much credit and had to change our betting pool several times because you all were just too damn slow."

"You don't need to be smug about it. You guys could have told us earlier, instead of taking bets." Macao growled.

"…We did, several times in fact." Ever said.

Several people tried to come up with something to say to that, but couldn't. The guild was silent as everyone went back to their seats, everyone except Gajeel and Laxus. Laxus wasn't going to move an inch until the Iron Dragon Slayer moved away from the door, but Gajeel remained, unmoving as he stared at Levy. The only person who moved was Wendy and she easily passed through the rune wall to stand next to Laxus.

"You said that Lucy-ne was fine…does that mean she's called you?" The pint sized slayer asked.

Looking down at Wendy, Laxus' face softened. "No she hasn't called, but Cobra did. Said that the mission took longer than expected but they are both fine." He answered, but when he saw that everyone was looking at him again Laxus decided to add something for their benefit. "Cobra decided to call because he knew that everybody would be worried since Lucy hasn't called us to check in. He said something about needing space to cool down."

With that Gajeel walked away from the door and sat down with Levy, whispering softly to the Script mage.

 **Lucy POV**

The difference a day of rest could make was amazing and I felt like I could take on the world. It also helped that I actually had something concrete now to look for, something that might actually help me get Aquarius' key back. Sure I could go visit her in the Spirit World, but it wasn't the same. She was trapped there, no longer could she come to Earthland, swim in the ocean, torment me, or get manicures with me. However if I did go to the Spirit World we would only be allowed an hour their time every few Celestial days, because apparently any longer would make my magic do something weird since it would be trying to call her to me.

I had been so excited about the town that I started researching early and found a museum in Crocous that had maps that were two centuries old, but since the museum curator had a stick so far up his ass that he had wood chips coming out between his teeth I wouldn't be getting any pictures unless I took them myself. I was tempted to go there myself to look at them and completely was ready to but the museum was three days away by train, closer to Fairy Tail than I wanted to be, and according to Erik who had called Laxus, Team Natsu was in Crocous for a job and would be for the next two weeks. So I did the next best thing and called my good friend the princess.

One minute I had the curator yelling at me to 'take my own damned pictures' or live without them. It's safe to say that Erik had to take the phone from me several times to keep me from calling him a few choice words. One call to Princess Hisui solved all of that. Not even an hour after I talked to her I received a call back from the new museum curator who assured me that that pictures would be sent within the next couple of days. Apparently Hisui had ordered a professional photographer to take the pictures outside of their protective cases so I could read and see everything clearly. I had tried to protest saying pictures from outside the protective case would work just as well but I quickly shut up when I learned that there were zoomed in portions of the maps on the back. If they were the right sections then those pictures could be the difference to me finding this hidden village and freeing Aquarius or failing miserably. So I readily accepted the offer of professional pictures that would be delivered to the Sabertooth Guild. This way I had Fiore covered, and now just needed the neighboring countries, which Rufus hopefully had.

"Luce." Erik said from the bedroom. "Why the hell did you unpack your bags when we were only going to be here for a couple of days?"

"Our plans changed, we were supposed to be here for at least a week, what do you expect?" I called out as I finished packing the rest of our stuff from the bathroom. I heard him grumble something but couldn't quite catch what it was. "Stop complaining, I don't have that much, it's not like I pack like Erza. Now can you imagine packing up all of her stuff in the hour that we have until our train arrives. That would be something to complain about, not my one bag of clothes. Now speed it up we have to leave soon."

"Call for some food to be delivered before we leave, I'm starving."

"Already did it. We have bleach, sandwiches, and a large bag of junk food to go."

"Good, then we're good to go." He said tossing the toiletry bag into a random pack before holding the door open for me.

Hand in hand we dropped off the room keys at the front desk before heading to the train station that was a block away. During our walk it was hard not noticing that every person we passed was smiling at us, or even thanking us. When I looked at Erik with a questioning glance he just shrugged and murmured something about how that rat bastard of a mayor was gone.

Smirking at that we patiently waited on a vacant bench as we waited for everybody to exit the train before we could get on. When the last few people trickled out, we found an empty some empty seats near the door. Almost immediately Erik dug into the snack bag and grabbed a bottle of bleach. Before he could take a sip, I gave him a quick kiss before getting lost in my book for the hundredth time since I got it two days ago. I had read it so much that I practically had it memorized, but I felt like I was missing something, something important.

 _Missing Celestial Village_

 _The village is nestled in a dense forest; the exact location remains unknown despite many exploring party's attempt at finding it. Out of the dozens of parties that set out to find the village over half of them went missing, never to be heard from again and to this day no trace of the missing mages has been found. Despite this, people continue to search for the Celestial village. The only reason we are aware of this mysterious village is due to a journal that was supposedly found in the Black Forest._

 _When first inspected, the journal showed nothing but blank pages. It wasn't until the book was opened under starlight that it revealed its secrets. Drawings of buildings, keys and stars filled the pages. Most of it not making sense to us researchers but the bits that were decoded told us of a people who, if we have it correct, made the keys Celestial Mages use._

 _It was clear that our next step would be to question those mages, so we set out to find some. It came to some surprise to us that there were not that many mages who used this kind of magic. Celestial Mages, as we discovered were very recluse, and were almost as scarce as Healers and Dragon Slayers. Those few that we did find however were able to identify several keys depicted in the drawings and even demonstrated their summoning abilities. But when the spirits were summoned and questioned about the journal none would speak, even after receiving a direct order from their masters. This just confirmed our suspicions that there was in fact a village out there._

 _From infancy people, have been warned away from the Black Forest. Stories of impossible creatures, and deadly plants have been told, spreading fear everywhere. Somewhere along the way the location of the Black Forest got lost, until every forest in Earthland that had the name Black associated with it was left to its own devices. To date there are maybe 10 forests that could be the dreaded Black Forest, but no one has been brave enough to discover which one is the true Black Forest since our last attempt._

 _Despite the warnings and missing searching parties, we sent some highly skilled mages out to search all the forests that had 'Black' in the name. Out of the ten search parties that were sent out only 6 returned and those that did found nothing of use. What was puzzling to us was that the four that disappeared were nowhere near each other, they were even in different countries…_

Leaving the book open, I reached between my legs for my bag and deftly pulled out my map of Fiore and a pen. Opening it up I began circling each of the forests shown on the map that had 'Black' in the name. In Fiore alone there were five, and nothing on the map indicated that one was special compared to the others. Huffing loudly, I stared at the map unblinking, trying to find some discrepancy between the forests. I'm not sure how long I sat there muttering to myself as I stared at the map, but I was about to admit defeat for now when Erik slowly started to slide the map off of my lap. It was at that moment that I slapped my hand down to grab the map and bring it closer to my face.

"Hmmm… Erik, do these trees look darker than the rest?" I asked, shoving the map in his face and pointing at the forest I was talking about. To there were several trees on the map that were slightly darker than the rest, but I had been staring at it for so long I didn't notice until he had shifted it into better lighting.

"Luce… they look the same to me." He said pushing it away from his face. "You're just seeing things, staring at that map for hours will do that to you."

"No, I'm serious. It wasn't until you moved the map from under my shadow that I saw it." Turning the map diagonally I held it up to the light. "Look closely. They're a different shade than the rest, and if you connect it like this…" I trailed off, roughly connecting the trees with my pen. "…do you see it now?" I asked when I was done.

"Luce…"

"I'm not crazy, or seeing things. These trees make the constellation… shoot I can't think of the name off the top of my head right now… it's one of the smaller ones. Anyways, this could be one of the three forests that those mages disappeared from!" I said excitedly, slightly bouncing in my seat, while wracking my brain for the name of the constellations' name.

Instead of sharing in my excitement, Erik gently grabbed the map from my hands and folded it up. As he put it back in my bag I felt confused as to why he wasn't getting it. It was so clear now, how could he not see it? We needed to see the other maps to find out if the other two forests the constellation too. Maybe that's why those mages disappeared. It could be a portal of some kind, or they could all be magically connected somehow. But the specifics didn't matter right now, all that mattered was that we could do this, we could actually find the missing village, and get Aquarius back!

"Lucy it's a mass-produced map. The printers probably started running out of ink or something. Those trees look exactly like the others. And if you're right…and that's a huge ass if, why hadn't anybody else noticed it before now? Hell, the people who created the map would have had to of known about the village. For all we know the village isn't even – shit Lucy I didn't mean..."

I stared at him devastated. "Isn't even what Erik? Isn't even what?! Real? Is that what you were going to say? This book has been the first thing to give me hope that I'd find a way to bring her back to me and now you're saying it's a load of shit?"

"I didn't sa-"

"No you didn't say it, but you're thinking it aren't you? I don't think you understand Erik. I _NEED_ this to be real. The forests, the village. I'm not crazy…I'm not." I ended on a sob. I ignored his attempts to bring me closer to him and angrily stuffed the book in my bag. "When we get those pictures from Crocous you'll see that I'm right."

"Luce… I didn't mean that. I don't think the book is shit. I just don't want you to get your hopes up over this map thing. Defects happen all the time during printing. I'm just saying let's not get too excited just yet. Waiting for the pictures from the original map will be good." He said, soothingly.

I let him rub my back as we sat there in silence. Feeling eyes watching me I looked around and saw that everyone was looking at me as if I were crazy. Groaning I hid my face in Erik's chest and clenched his shirt in my hand, wishing that I could just disappear. Erik must have noticed the attention I gained when I heard him growl loudly and squeeze me closer to him.

"Why don't you asses mind your own fucking business." He snarled at everyone. And by the gasps I heard I'm guessing he showed some hint of his powers before the weight of the dozens of eyes left me. I wrapped my arms around him, as I mumbled my apologies. I had gone off the rocker at the slightest hint of doubt, but I knew that he just didn't want to see me hurt.

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 **an: let me know what you thought please and thank you. :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: This chapter took forever to finish. I had half of it written maybe a week after my last update and then all of my ideas went silent. Then suddenly a month later I felt like writing again and the creative juices were flowing again. Yay! Anyways I hope you enjoy this chapter. :)**

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 **Lucy POV**

"Lucy!" Yukino squealed as I walked through Sabertooth's double doors. Widening my stance I braced myself for impact as I watched Yukino run towards me. Circling my arms around her at the same time she hugged me I couldn't help but smile as I felt my breath be squeezed from me. "I'm so happy to see you, how have you been? What happened to Gajeel? Who is Erik? What's with the maps, you know we can get you some up-to-date maps. They're much more detailed, you know."

Laughing as she took a deep breath after her rapid fire questions I told her to calm down as she led us to the table Sting, Rogue and Orga were sitting at. Before I was dragged too far I grabbed the bottom of Erik's shirt and dragged him along with me. I ignored his glare as I went back to making the appropriate noises in response to Yukino's constant chatter. When we finally reached the table I greeted everyone and sat down.

"Hey Lucy, where's your hot headed partner?" Sting asked expectantly as he looked behind me. When he didn't see Natsu his excitement visibly died as a scowl took over his face when he saw Erik. "Wait isn't he…what is he doing here, didn't he try to kill you?"

"This is Erik and he's my boyfriend. You can stop looking at him like that, seriously stop. Anything that happened in the past is in the past, just like everything that happened between Sabertooth and Fairy Tail is in the past." I said with a pointed look. "As for Natsu, he's off with the team doing some other job." I could see the questioning look in their eyes, but before they could verbalize them I changed the subject. "Where's Rufus?"

"Wait, go back. Boyfriend?" Yunkino said looking between me and Erik and our now linked hands that were resting on the table.

"Don't give me that look, it's new, I wasn't hiding anything. Can we talk about something else, like where Rufus is, and his maps?" After I said this, I turned to Yukino and mouthed that I'd explain everything later.

As she nodded I saw her elbow Sting who didn't look like he was going to let the topic go, but with a little nudge and scowl from Yukino he begrudgingly complied.

"Well I guess if Natsu hasn't killed you yet it must mean that he's forgiven you." Sting's mumbling received a similar response from Rogue.

"Rufus headed to his family estate this morning to get the maps you wanted. It should only take him a few more hours to gather them then bring them back. I'm not entirely sure, but I think I heard him mumbling about having more maps that you might be interested in. But he did leave the one old map he had in his room secured in our library if you want to go see it." When Yukino moved to stand, Orga put a hand on her head and pushed her back down.

"Chill, they just got here. Let them breathe for a bit." With a wave of his hand, someone appeared at our table within seconds and asked us if we'd like to order anything.

"I'm good." Erik said, before digging in my bag, to grab one of the jars of poison Virgo gave us when she dropped off our bags earlier. When he found the one he wanted he absent mindedly placed it on the table, and watched wordlessly as Sting reached out for the jar. I waited for Erik to give some kind of warning but nothing came, shaking my head at the stupid smirk on his face, I covered the top of the jar with my hand right as he was opening it.

"Trust me, you don't want to do that." I proclaimed, dragging the jar towards me and resting my hands and head on top of it so no one else would try to take it again.

"And…uh… I'd like a strawberry smoothie if you have it. I'm not hungry just yet." I mumbled without thought while turning towards Yukino. "No we don't need to breathe, I'd like to see that map though." When Yukino got up to go I moved to follow her, but hesitated when I realized I'd be leaving Erik alone with the guys. Looking down at him I ran my hand through his hair, "You'll be alright?"

"Go. I'll find you later." He said shooing me away when I kept looking to where Yukino was waiting. Giving him a quick peck on the lips I jogged to Yukino.

"Can we talk about it now?" She whispered while leaning in close.

"Not yet. Haven't you learned by now that they hear everything when you're in the same room?" I waited until we had passed through two sets of doors before I said anything more. "Okay this should be good. And don't think you're going to get to avoid your own set of explanations. Since when did you and Sting get together? Hmmm?"

"Okay, okay. You first though." She bargained.

"There isn't really that much to tell… Gajeel and I broke up right after Tartarus… according to him, he had an epiphany during the battle and realized that he loved Levy. We broke up and they got together. To be honest I wasn't hurt, in fact I was completely fine with it. They're doing wonderfully and are happy together.

"As for Erik, you probably know him as Cobra, and yes he did try to kill us several times. But several of my closest friends now have tried to kill or hurt me at one point of another; Laxus and his team, you guys, Gajeel, and so on. Anyways he and I got together officially before we left the guild about a week and a half ago. But we've been friends since we found him in the rubbles of the Council's prisons.

"You wouldn't believe the condition we found him in, half-starved and dehydrated. He'd been trapped in his cell the entire time, and the smell of the wing he was in was awful! So many dead bodies stewing in the humidity, not to mention all of the human waste that had accumulated when they were waiting for a rescue party. Sadly the other prisoners around him all passed away so I can't imagine what he went through with his ability to hear their pain-filled thoughts, let alone their dying thoughts. We were surprised to find anybody alive in the wing of the building we were in charge of searching but there he was, barely conscious. The only reason he survived was because of his ability to feed off of poisons but even with the toxic air feeding him, he still was in a very bad state. When we were able to move him, we got him set up in our infirmary where he's stayed until we left for the job. We got to know each other as I helped him with his recovery; I was with him every step of the way and now we're what we are today." I explained with a sliver of a smile, remembering all of the good times we had in the infirmary.

"I don't know how you do it Lucy. I had a difficult enough time forgiving everyone here after what happened at the games, it took months and wasn't easy but I did it. But you, you just forgave him without a thought." She said holding a door open for me that led into a huge library that rivaled Fairy Tail's. I took a second to marvel at all of the books that filled the ceiling high shelves. This was heaven right here, I could live in here for years just reading if given the opportunity. "Uh Lucy?" I heard Yukino call out to me, breaking me from my book overload.

"Sorry, it's just…wow. I'd love to get my hands on all of these books! You have some that I haven't even heard of all about the various magics. It's quite a collection. I didn't realize Jiemma was into books, he really didn't seem the type to read, or care about furthering his education." I said distractedly as I ran my hand down the spines of the nearest books. There wasn't a speck of dust on them, or anywhere in this room by the looks of it.

"Ha! Our old master had nothing to do with the library, it's only here because Rufus refused to join Sabertooth unless he was given the space for _part_ of his collection. Considering Rufus was the first Memory-Make mage he had encountered let alone heard of, so I'm pretty sure Jiemma would have given anything for Rufus to join, hence this giant library. I'm sure Sting and Rogue could have gotten whatever they wanted too but I don't think it occurred to them." She said heading towards the back of the room where there was a table covered in old maps that could have passed as brand new if it weren't for the slight discoloring of the paper that came with age.

Reverently stroking the pages I leaned over the table to get a closer look at all of the detail, grateful that none of it had faded away.

"Uh… Lucy." I froze at the tone of Yukino's voice fearing what I was about to hear. Looking down at the maps, but not really seeing anything I waited for her to speak. "Where…where's Aquarius' key? Did it fall off of your ring somewhere?" I could hear a hopeful note in her voice, as she started backtracking and looking on the ground.

"Yukino stop… I didn't drop it, it's in my pouch." I took a deep breath and looked up at her. Watching as she stopped looking around to turn back to look at me I reached into my pouch and clenched the key in my fist until the edges of it were digging into my palm. Loosening my grip on the key I slowly removed the key and laid it flat on the table, leaving my hand over it. "You can't tell anyone about this Yukino, not yet at least. I'm trying everything I can to find a way to fix it but I've been coming up with nothing for the past few months. That was until two days ago when I found another lead, and hopefully this one pans out." As I spoke I lifted my hand up to reveal the two pieces of the key and cringed when I heard her gasp.

"Oh Lucy…" Yukino said, one hand hovering over the key while the other covered her mouth.

Seeing her reaction for some reason made me feel somewhat better. She knew exactly how I felt, or at least as close as possible without her losing her own spirits. Feeling a cool trail run down my cheek I quickly backed away from the table, with the key in hand. Leaning against the bookshelf behind me I wept silently, only to start crying harder as I felt her arms wrap around me.

"Shhh… it'll be okay, we'll find a way to get her back." She whispered into my hair while rubbing my back. Leaning heavily against her I let everything pour out of me, starting from the fight with Tartaros and everything else leading up to now. By the end of my explanation we were sitting on the ground in a heap of limbs. We sat like that for what seemed like forever, both of us crying and rocking back and forth in each other's' arms.

It was like that, that the boys found us, with Rufus in tow, telling us just how long we had been down there. I watched as they all stopped to stare at us for a minute before Erik and Sting made their way towards us. Separating myself from Yukino's arms and happily fell into Erik who helped me up. Watching Yukino do the same with Sting I smiled at them.

"Hey guys…" I said sheepishly at the other three who were watching us in confusion. Seeing that Rufus' arms were full of scrolls I wiped my face with the bottom of my black shirt and squeezed Erik's arms in gratitude. "Thank you so much for this Rufus, you're a life saver."

"Hello Lucy. I'm glad I could help, if you want help looking for… what you are looking for I would gladly help. It might make things faster." Rufus said handing me the scrolls. I paused at that remembering that he was probably the only one who had read more books on rare magic than me. At least the only one I had access to.

"Thanks, Rufus really. I just might take you up on your offer, but besides Erik and Yukino nobody else knows and I'm going to need some time before I tell you… actually I'll have to tell my team first before I tell anybody else… I know it doesn't make sense and that I sound crazy but it'll all make sense later eventually." I said with an apologetic smile.

He nodded understandingly before steering the others around and nudging them towards the exit. "Of course Lucy. Take all of the time you need, and let me know if I can be of any help. Enjoy the maps, there are quite a few maps. I grabbed the oldest ones I had, along with several of the more from different years in case you needed to use any of them as reference." Before I could say anything he turned around and left the library with Sting following reluctantly behind him since Yukino pushed him.

Once Erik, Yukino and I were left in the library alone, I sighed and leaned over the table with my eyes closed; the thought of calling the guild and telling them everything I had been hiding for months wore me out.

"Mavis, I don't know how I'm going to do this. I definitely can't tell them in person, they'd never let me leave without them. And heaven knows I don't think I can stand having them here with us. Think of all of the destruction they would cause…" I finished on a moan rubbing my hands over my face in frustration.

"You don't have to tell them in person, just call them and tell them. You guys have a communal lacrima don't you? You could tell them all at once, and then you don't have to tell them where you are. Right?" Yukino said, joining me at the table and standing across from me.

"That would have worked, maybe, if I had kept in contact with them for the past week and a half." I answered with a sigh. "Since I haven't called them to keep them updated they'll probably be tracking the calls and then they'll find where we are and come running."

"Not if you're not here. We have someone here who can temporarily trap people in a cell of sorts, except the cell is in a different dimension of sorts. I'm not entirely sure where the cell is we've tried to track it down but weren't able to. Plus Rufus has already memorized the power so you can kill two birds with one stone and tell your guild, and those of us who you want to know at the same time so you don't have to go over it more than once." When she finished talking I nodded slowly, thinking about my other options but everything else would either take too much time, or would result in all of Fairy Tail descending upon my location like locusts.

"Yeah, that'll work, but give me a couple of hours. I want to go over these maps first." When she went to leave I remembered something I needed to ask her. "Wait Yukino, this is a constellation right? I swear it is, but keeps escaping me, but I can't find it in any of my notes, or books that I packed with me. If you don't know, no worries I'm sure one of these books will have it." I asked her, showing the portion of my map that I had looked over earlier on the train.

"Pretty sure that's Ara, the altar." When she answered after a quick glance at the map, I looked at Erik, with a 'told you so' look. I knew I wasn't making it up. "What does it mean though?"

"I have no idea, but I'm hoping it's what I've been looking for to get Aquarius back." I said looking down at the map and tracing the constellation with my finger. "Just another clue, but hopefully it leads somewhere this time."

"Well let me know when you want to make your call and who you want there." She said walking towards the exit, but turned around after a couple of steps. "Oh I forgot, my sister, should be here later today. She might know something we don't about repairing the keys. She goes by Sorano now, instead of Angel. She's part of our guild now but went out on a job a few days ago."

"Just her…?" Erik asked letting the rare show of emotions out, because he was hopeful that Sorano was with the others we hadn't been able to find. We had looked all over the place but hadn't seen anyone of his friends when we found him. All we did know was that Angel…well Sorano, had been found by Sabertooth.

"No, the others are with her… you didn't know they were here did you?" She asked when she say the look of surprise on my face. "Shoot, I told Sting to tell you guys... I'll have to talk to him about that. We got the others out too when we went after my sister. We tried to get to you Cobra, but by the time we got there you had already been transferred to solitary, or whatever they called it. All we knew was that it had triple the amount of guards, and no one we spoke to was even tempted by our bribes. We couldn't get in without getting caught. Sorry." She apologized.

I could tell that Erik was relieved by the sigh I heard, and the grip he had on my hand. "Thanks Yukino, we had thought they all died. I'm glad we were wrong."

I waited until she left the library before turning around and wrapping my arms around Erik. "They're alive… Fuck. I thought I'd lost them." He mumbled into the top of my head. "Holy shit I can't believe it." I wasn't surprised by how reaction to hearing this news, I knew how upset he had been when I told him that we hadn't found anybody from his previous guild. "I'm going to beat that blonde slayer when I get the chance. He should have told us the others were alive when he said Sorano was."

"Hey now, none of that. I know you're upset about this, but I seem to recall that the call got disconnected mid-sentence. So he probably was going to tell us, but just forgot to in the end. Hell we never called him back after that because you were so upset and decided to take your anger out on Natsu." At that he chuckled, undoubtedly remembering how Natsu had accidentally burnt Erza's cake and part of her eyebrows off and the beating that had followed seconds after. Luckily Cancer had been able to work his magic and help Erza with her problem, otherwise I'm pretty sure Natsu would have wound up in a coma, or running for his life.

"Ha, I forgot about that day. Damn watching that had been the highlight of that entire week." Erik chuckled. "I guess I can't put all of the blame on Sting; plus if it weren't for his call cutting out none of that would have happened."

Despite his words I could see that calculating look in his eye, and knowing him Sting was going to have a little surprise in one of his drinks before the day ended. "Nothing too strong Erik, maybe the stuff you gave Gray that gave him the shits the entire night, or the stuff you gave Natsu that caused his hands and feet to swell like balloons." I said with a sigh before extracting myself from him so he could go on scheming while I looked over the maps. Grabbing my book of notes out of his hands I laid it open on the table as wrote down the different maps that I'd be looking at, dedicating a couple of pages for all of the notes I'd be taking.

It took me three hours to look over the maps and write notes on each one. By the time I was done with the ones Rufus gave me, Yukino had come down with a tray of food and drinks. Surprisingly Sting followed behind her with a large package they said was addressed to me. Leaving Erik to grab the food I directed Sting to place the package on one of the empty tables and promptly tore into it.

 ** _Dear Lucy,_**

 ** _It was wonderful hearing from you, although I am sorry that it was under such circumstances. Here are the pictures as promised. Included are one enlarged picture of the front of the map, along with several close ups of the areas that you mentioned in our call. There are also pictures of the entire back of the map that depicts the zoomed in portions. I had the photographer label the zoomed in portions to make it easier for you to refer to the whole map._**

 ** _Currently I have several of our, if I may say, overpaid scholars browsing through our archives for anymore maps that may be of use to you. I will let you know what we find at a later date. Until then I hope these pictures will suffice, and hope that you will call if you need anything else, no matter how big or small._**

 ** _With love,_**

 ** _Hisui._**

Setting aside the letter I pulled out the pictures excitedly. They were perfect, and even better than the map Rufus had.

"Lucy." I heard Erik call from behind me but I ignored him as I compared my notes to the new map, jotting down what the other map had missed. "Lucy." Not even a minute went by after his last call that he came up from behind me and pulled the pen out of my hand and lifted me over his shoulder.

"Hey! What are you doing I need to go over that map, there are things on there that Rufus' didn't have. Hey Erik, are you listening to me?" I said as I hit his back repeatedly.

"I hear you, I just choose to ignore you right now like you've been doing for the past hour." He said as he sat me down at the table furthest away from the maps. "You're going to eat, don't give me that fucking look. You haven't eaten since before we got onto that damn train to get here and that was late last night and now it's four in the afternoon. So you will eat every single thing on that plate and drink the damn water and smoothie I ordered for you I'll hold your notes and maps hostage until you do."

Glaring at him and ignoring the snickers I heard from the other side of the table I grabbed something off of the plate and took a huge bite out of it just for his sake. Erik didn't take his seat at the table until I had taken several more bites out of the apple I had picked up at random. Looking away from him and down at my plate I felt my mouth fill with saliva and realized that he was right and that I did need to eat.

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 **AN: Let me know what you thought of this chapter. Please and thank you.**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: So fun fact... While writing this chapter I felt I needed a refresher on what happened to Lucy during the Tartaros Arc so I watched it for the first time. I knew what happened before because I read the manga and let me tell you I cried during the manga when I first read Lucy's sacrifice. I've always loved Aquarius and Lucy's relationship. So I'm watching the episode and I start crying during her battle because I know what's about to happen and it's even more depressing watching it than it was reading it... :'(**

 **Anyways hope you enjoy the chapter, sorry for any mistakes I missed.**

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 **Lucy POV**

It didn't take long for me to finish all of the food that Yukino had brought down for us, and surprisingly when I was done with my plate I even ate some off of Erik's plate. Despite his grumbling over sharing his food I caught a hint of a smirk. Once we all had finished eating I let Yukino know that whenever her sister and the others arrived was when I would want to contact my guild. I also let her know that she and her team, Sting, Rogue, Rufus and Orga were welcome to listen in on the conversation but for their sake and mine it'd be best if they stayed out of site. That way Fairy Tail wouldn't suspect me being at their guild. As an after-thought I also invited Erik's old guild to join us since I would be picking Sorano's brain and it'd make things easier for Erik when he spoke to them about what we were doing. With what appeared to be a huge list of people that would be joining me in the 'cell' to call my guild, Yukino and Sting left us to our maps.

When I didn't spring up to go back to the maps Erik put his arm around me and kissed my forehead. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"Urg. Just the thought of telling everyone after months of hiding it terrifies me. I know they'll be sympathetic, but knowing them they'll all be hurt that I didn't tell them right away. But how could I? I was in denial. Natsu, Wendy, Gray and Gajeel were dealing with losing their parents all over again and it's not like they had time to grieve any more than I did. Right after the fight we started helping anybody that needed it, had to rebuild, and then eventually report everything to Hisui and her father. You remember how busy we all were, and when things finally started settling down everybody seemed like they didn't want to ever think about Tartaros again.

"Even when I thought about telling them why I was so depressed, or why I decided to take a break from Team Natsu everyone assumed it was because of the break up, and that was fine with me. It was an easy out, and I'm ashamed to admit that I took it." I sighed sadly.

"You're right they'll be upset you didn't tell them, but they will be there for you and help you any way you let them. Hell your guild's 'togetherness' and willingness to help each other was the thing we hated most about your guild when we first heard of Fairy Tail. It's still somewhat annoying to have so many people in your business all of the time but I now see the appeal of actually being able to rely on others to have your back. And that's what you need. Part of the reason you've been so depressed is because you lost that support system you've come accustom to. They're your family and you need them. Sure I'm here for you but I'm not them." When he was finished, I groaned knowing that he was right.

"Why do you have to be so damned perceptive? So you think I'm doing the right thing, telling Fairy Tail everything?" I asked, still not a hundred percent sure about my decision, even though I was pretty sure and doubts I had about it was because of my fear.

"As much as I've loved having you all to myself these past few months, you and your soul won't completely heal without those pesky fairies."

"You're one of the fairies now." I said bumping into him playfully. "You're right, I have to tell them."

"Let's not advertise that little tidbit right away to Sorano and the others. Knowing them I'd never hear the end of it." I laughed at the horrified look on his face.

"You'll love every minute of it and you know it. You've missed them too much to get too angry or annoyed at them. Come on, I want to show you what I've found so far." I said grabbing his hand and leading him back to the table with my notebook. "This is the older version of the map that I had on the train, and look the constellation is still there, and it's even more prominent. I told you it was deliberate. Whoever made these maps must have linked this forest to that village we need to find. And look over here." Dragging him over to one of the other tables I pointed to another map, this one of Bosco. "The same constellation in another 'Black' forest. Same with Seven. I think this really means that the village is out there."

"But which one hides the village?" He asked looking through my notes trying to find the answer.

"…I haven't figured that out yet. I planned on picking Sorano's and Rufus' mind about that once they knew the full story. But at this point I don't think there is only one entrance into the village, I think that maybe each forest that has the constellation is an entrance. We'll have to check out the forest first to be sure but I'm betting I'm right." I exclaimed earnestly, waiting to hear his thoughts.

Erik was silent for a moment as he looked over my notes, but when he looked up I knew he still had his reservations but this time he looked surprised that there might actually be a connection between the forests and the village. Knowing I was jumping the gun and now caring one bit I whooped in excitement and threw myself at Erik and wasn't the least surprised when he caught me with one arm and held me to him. "I'm going to get her back." I whispered tears threatening to spill free.

I stood in the dark cell staring down at my lacrima almost afraid to turn it on. I took several deep breaths, trying to calm myself enough to call Fairy Tail but no matter how many I took my heart and mind wouldn't stop racing. Just the thought of telling them was terrifying, but actually doing it was ten times worse. I thought of all of their faces, how Team Natsu would look and feel as they listened and my heart broke all over again. How could I have kept something this important from them? They were my family, all that I had left in this world. They had been there for me when we had just met and my father paid to have me kidnapped. They were there for me during the anniversaries of my parents' and Michelle's deaths. They've saved me countless times, helped me get my spirits I now consider family and have supported me in every way imaginal.

"Oh Mavis, what have I done?" I whispered to myself forgetting I wasn't in the dark alone. Reaching up to squeeze the comforting hand on my shoulder I lilted my head up to look at Erik. "I should have told them before this. Just think of how much they could have helped me cope with it and even with the research part of it all. Why didn't I tell them?"

Erik looked uncomfortable at the question, probably because he didn't know exactly what to say to make me feel better. "Uh… you were scared and grieving. Needing space and time to heal and all that. That's all I've got. The important thing is that you're telling them now."

"You're probably right. But I'll still feel bad no matter what. I just hope they'll be able to forgive me eventually." I murmured.

"They will without a doubt. If they could forgive Laxus' hostile takeover attempt, they'll forgive you." He said massaging my shoulders with both of his hands. He was right again, or at least I hoped so. No way to know for sure unless I told them.

"Okay let's get this over with." Before I placed the call I angled myself away from the Sabertooth mages so no one at Fairy Tail could see them. Selecting the contact for Erza's and the communal lacrimas I waited for someone to answer.

"Fairy Tail how may we-" Mira distractedly answered. "Oh Lucy!"

"LUCY!" My team cried when they saw me.

"Lushii" Happy yelled excitedly and accidentally spraying the three mages with fish he had been chewing.

"Hey Erik." Natsu said as an afterthought before focusing on me again. "Lucy we miss you, when are you gonna join our team again?"

"Hey guys." I said with an awkward wave.

"Where are you? It's really dark there." Erza asked in concern. "Do you need assistance, we'll come right away." I could see Erza's usual wagon of bags behind the three of them meaning they were probably done with whatever job they had been doing.

"No I'm fine… I just needed to tell you guys something. Something that has been bothering me for the last several months actually." As I spoke over everyone who was trying to talk to me I fiddled with Aquarius' key. When they all saw how tense I was they listened to Mira's order to shut up and gave me all of their attention. Now that I've had a minute I could see that a couple of people were missing from the guild, most likely on a job of their own. I was tempted to use that as an excuse to put this off but Erik squeezed my shoulders and whispered encouragingly in my ear. "I uh…During the fight with Tartaros, when you guys were stuck in whatever Alegria put you in I had to fight off the soldiers who were trying to kill me in order to become one of the demons. I took care of them easily enough but then the shark looking dude, and the kid showed up and ruined everything. As Loke and Virgo fought off the two of them, Jackal attacked me. At that point I was already exhausted because Loke and Virgo were using a lot of power, so I had try to fight him myself, but he blew up my whip and sent me crashing into the water. I got caught in the current and couldn't get up without Jackal throwing explosions my way but I knew I couldn't give up because I knew you were all alive, I could still feel your magic and I knew you guys just needed more time so I did the impossible.

"As a last ditch effort I summoned a third spirit, Aquarius. As you all know she was … is … was my strongest spirit, however not even she could hold off all three of them. The shark one, I forget his name, easily sliced through Aquarius' water and injured her. Then Jackal attacked both Loke and Virgo, injuring them so much that they had no choice but to return to the Spirit World." My lips trembled, and I had to pause for a moment so I wouldn't break down, but I couldn't stop the tears from falling. "I wasn't strong enough, I never am." I cried harder but looked into Natsu's eyes, borrowing strength from his concerned gaze to continue with my story. "When I thought there was nothing more I could do to save you guys and myself I had no choice but to watch as Jackal approached me, and blew the head off of the annoying child looking one. As he was preparing to attack me Aquarius surprised him and was able to shove him away and hold him at bay for a little while. Only enough to tell me that there was a way out of this, a way to survive.

"She said…she said that only Celestial mages who could hold open three gates at once could summon the most powerful Celestial Spirit, but it comes with a horrendous price. I'd have to sacrifice one of my Zodiac keys in order to summon the Spirit King." I had kept eye contact with Natsu this entire time, not daring to look away so I noticed when he stepped closer to Erza's lacrima and took it from her hands. "I had no choice. I tried to talk her out of it, tried to reason with her that there must be another way but there wasn't. She offered up her key because in order for it to work the Zodiac Spirit and Celestial Mage must have a strong bond, and our bond was the strongest.

"As I summoned the king Aquarius disappeared. The next thing I knew the Plutogrim was plummeting to the ground. I'm not entirely sure what happened with him after that but I heard fighting and explosions outside of the Plutogrim so I assume he was fighting someone, most likely Mard Geer. I don't know what happened with that fight, but he spoke to me and the next thing I know a portion of Aquarius' magic was flowing through me allowing me to finish the fight with Jackal. Using Urano Metria I defeated Jackal, I'm pretty sure I passed out after that but I felt another surge of power from the Spirit King, and I think he was somehow able to release you all.

"Sacrificing one of my keys and losing Aquarius is why I've been so distant. Why I left Team Natsu, and why I've been going on missions alone. I refuse to believe that Aquarius is lost to me forever. There has to be a way to restore her key and I'm going to find it no matter what it takes." By the end I was sobbing, and was only staying upright because Erik was holding me up. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. I'm sorry I've kept it a secret for so long but I couldn't…I didn't know how to tell you."

Throughout my story I heard quiet gasps, and what sounded like crying but I wasn't sure. I hadn't looked away from Natsu, he was my pillar of strength, my best friend and I wanted nothing more than to feel his arms around me as he hugged me but I knew that couldn't happen. I knew that I needed to find the village without them, without the risk of destruction. Without their constant smothering concern.

"Three spirits at once…and the Spirit King…" I heard my whispered from in front of me but didn't pay attention it to.

Burrowing into Erik's chest I cried as his spoke to the guild and my team, telling them that we would call them back later, that I needed to rest and calm down before I talked about it anymore. There were protests of course but he easily deflected those, all the while reassuring them that he had me. That I was in good hands and for the first time since we rescued him Mira sounded normal when she talked to him, same with Gray. So despite the tears, I smiled, glad that everyone else was discovering the Erik I had fallen for.

 **Erik's POV**

Lucy was a mess after she retold her story, in much more detail than when she had told it to me. So much so that I felt that it'd be better for her if she rested before calling her friends again. Sneaking in a drop of poison into her mouth, I watched for half a second before she fell asleep, all the while shutting everybody else out. I didn't want to hear them right now, all I wanted was to get Lucy settled then work out the anger that I had accumulated as I listened to her. If that fucker Jackal hadn't disappeared with the rest of the demons I would have found him, and killed him myself. I would even let their stupid lab be operational so I could kill him more than once until he felt the never ending pain Lucy had since that day.

Cradling Lucy in my arms I nodded towards Rufus and he returned us all to the library. I could see my old guild looking at me in shock, while Sorano looked at Lucy in a mixture of amazement and jealousy but when she finally looked into my eye she looked away sheepishly knowing I had seen the green surrounding her. Luckily for her, her sister interrupted my thoughts of what I'd do to her if she ever thought of hurting Lucy again.

"Follow me Erik-."

"Only Lucy can call me that." I said grouchily as I stared at her.

"Right…Cobra I can take you to your guys' room… that is if you plan on staying with us, Lucy never said for sure." She said nervously wringing her fingers.

"Yeah we'll stay here for now. I'll talk to her when she wakes up for more solid plans." Following her up the stairs and down the hallway opposite of where we had entered I found that all of the noise of the guild quieted as we passed through a set of huge double doors.

"Sting and Rogue decided to remodel the guild a bit. This used to be where our old guild master would…interrogate suspected criminals and mages he caught snooping around. According to them it took forever to get the smell of blood out of the walls, but it was worth it. This is where the five of us live now. Orga's room is in the corner over there closest to the gym, then there is Rufus' and Rogue's rooms. Sting and my room are down the opposite hallway along with the guest rooms I insisted needed to be added." I let her ramble on because I knew she'd start crying again if she didn't and the only tears I'd willingly put up with were Lucy's. "Here you are. This room should be best for your…hearing. It's nearly sound proof. We've already put the bags you left in the guild hall in here. There is a private bathroom right over there. The rest of this wing is open to any of us so feel free to explore. I'll let the others know not to disturb you. Please make yourself at home." Sorano's sister backed out of the room and closed the door.

Pulling back the sheets of the bed before I set Lucy down, I looked around and noticed that there weren't any windows I needed to close, only a skylight that was directly above the bed but I didn't mess with the cover that was available because I knew Lucy would enjoy seeing the stars when she woke up. When I finished tucking her in I brushed away the hair from her face and groaned quietly.

"What the hell have you done to me Lucy? How did you get my wrapped around your finger, willing to do anything for you?" With a kiss on her forehead I left her to sleep for the next couple hours and went looking for the gym.

Unfortunately no one was there to take the brunt of my anger. Stalking towards the punching bag I covered slammed my fists into it over and over again, imagining it was Jackal's face. I was so focused on what I was doing that I didn't realize I had infused a bit of my magic in my punches nor did I realize that someone else had crept into the room until I heard someone coughing from behind me, whoever it was, was having a bit of trouble breathing through the cloud of poison that had filled the room. I was tempted to pretend I hadn't heard them and let the person drop dead, but I fought the urge and let the poisonous cloud disperse.

"Geez Cobra where's that control you were always boasting about?" Midnight said when he finally stopped coughing and was able to stand up straight.

"Down the proverbial drain." I grunted out as I kicked the bag in front of me. "What the hell do you want Midnight, now's not the best time."

"We didn't get to say much earlier when we got back from that job." Midnight grunted sliding down one of the walls and sitting in his usual cross-legged manner.

"What's there to say? You're alive. I'm alive. We're all fucking alive. It's not like you fuckers left me in that hell-hole until it collapsed around me, essentially burying me alive. Hell I bet you guys didn't even go back to look when you found out the whole prison had been destroyed."

"That's not true Cobra, and you know it." Sorano chimed in standing to the side of the punching bag. "Just calm down and talk to us. Or better yet why don't you see for yourself what happened when we went looking for you."

"Fuck I can barely handle my own thoughts right now let alone your guys'." I hit the bag a few more times before angrily spinning around to glare at the two of them. "Where's Racer?"

"He saw the cloud and took for the hills." Midnight grumbled as his head fell forward and the snoring began.

"Some things never change." I said shaking my head and wiping the sweat off my brow with my shirt. "Fuck I know you came back for me. We made that promise at the Tower. I'm just pissed off about Lucy. She wasn't nearly as graphic when she told me what happened."

"About that-."

"Sorano I swear to God, if you do anything to upset her, try to take her keys or hurt her in some way I will end you." I growled. She didn't even flinch just gave me that disgruntled look that told me I was being an idiot.

"As if. I'm happy with my magic now. If I pursued Celestial Magic I'd have to go after my sister and there is no way that's happening." The smile on her face told me she was being honest. I remember when we were at the Tower and how every time I thought Sorano would give up the fight she'd snap out of it at just the thought of getting back to her sister. "But you can't expect me not to talk about it! I mean come on, she opened _three_ Zodiac gates at once. The Celestial Mage I killed, couldn't even hold open two Zodiacs and one lesser spirit without knocking herself out."

"Sorano…"

"Let me get this out before blondie wakes up. You know how it was for me opening one Zodiac gate and when I got used to that two was the next logical step and let me tell you that was no picnic. I was like Midnight, falling asleep at the drop of the hat. It took ages for me to do it comfortably. I can't imagine what she went through, calling two of the most powerful spirits and having them fight full out, then fighting herself _and then_ summoning another powerful Zodiac. Damn, it's just incredible.

"I haven't heard about a Celestial Mage being able to do that in decades. Hell I didn't even know it was possible to summon the king of the spirits. I wish I had been there to see that, what a sight it must have been." She ended on a wishful sigh.

"What's the point of that tirade?" I asked crossing my arms over my chest.

"No point, I just needed someone to talk to who actually understood what it must have taken for her to do all of that. Yukino is a mess right now, she even had to summon one of her spirits." Sorano sounded slightly disgusted. "How does Lucy plan on getting Aquarius back? That's why you told me, us, right? She needs help?"

"Yeah, but let her ask you when she wakes up." She nodded, but I could tell she had thought of something.

Don't tell my sister this, but I still have access to some of our…resources from the Oracion Seis. If you wanted I could put feelers out to see if they come up with anything." I wasn't surprised she had kept our contacts from the old days, she always liked having her options open.

"Thanks, but I don't think we need them right now. We definitely don't need other people looking into this who could potentially ruin this opportunity for Lucy."

"Speaking of the fairy what the hell is up with all of the touchy feely shit that was happening before?" Sorano asked with a knowing glance.

"'Only Lucy can call me Erik', what the hell?" Racer chimed in, imitating my voice or at least he tried to, as he entered the gym, stopping inches away from me. "Glad to see you man."

"None of your fucking business." I scowled at their smiling faces feeling uncomfortable when I saw that even Midnight was smiling.

"So you tap that shit y- woah there buddy?" Racer laughed, running away from the fist I sent his way, only to trip on the foot I had stuck out. Watching as he tripped and slid into the wall with a satisfying thud I smiled.

"So it's serious then." Midnight mumbled, still half asleep. "Interesting."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean." I glared at him.

"She's a fairy dude. We've hated those fairies since we first encountered them. We've tried to kill them more than once, and even sacrificed your girl to the Infinity Clock." Racer shook his head as he got to his feet. "Not sure how we can, _not_ be surprised about the fu- relationship you have with her."

"We're just concerned Cobra. Are you sure she isn't trying to get back at you for the stuff we did to her and her friends?" Sorano asked, when I gave her a look she laughed. "Of course you're sure. Forget I asked. But you can't fault us for worrying, the only relationship you've ever had was with that snake of yours, and us. Any girl we saw you with was usually tossed aside within a week or so. Well except for those girls we had running around doing all our errands."

I groaned at that. "Don't remind me. Lucy and I just ran into those guys before we came here."

Racer and Midnight laughed at that, and Sorano cringed.

"I bet that didn't go over so well with Miss Priss." She said offering me a sad smile.

"It could have gone better but overall it was fine. Luckily I had warned her beforehand otherwise I'd be in the dog house for eternity." That was all I could say before I heard screaming from down the hall. At first it was muffled to the point where I couldn't tell what was being said but then there was another scream that I heard loud and clear.

"Open Gate of the Crab, Cancer!" I heard Lucy yell as the room began to shake. Shoving away from the wall I raced out the door to find out what the hell was going on.

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 **AN: Cliff hanger! o.O  
**

 **Let me know what you thought of this chapter please and thank you!  
**

 **Sorry I haven't really responded to reviews the last few chapters I updated, but I'll try to start responding from now on. :)**

 **Carchee: Thank you! I hope you've enjoyed the most recent chapters. :)**

 **CoSmO33: Me too, they will be playing a big part later on. I'm just hoping everything goes as planned. :)**

 **TheAliceHuntt: I know, I wasn't going to have her tell them until later but figured this way she has one less thing to worry about and then she wouldn't feel bad telling anymore people before she told her guild.**

 **kittentf: I want to thank you because I completely forgot about covering at least part of their reaction, but after I read you review I went back and added in the little bit at the end of the chapter!**


	12. Chapter 12

**an: I am incredibly sorry for the long wait, especially after a cliff hanger! I promise not to end it on a cliff hanger again and not update in a timely manner. Life has been hectic and I am dealing with an externship that's 40+ hours a week while working full time. Which means I'm basically having a 80 hour work week. Again sorry, and hope you like the chapter.**

* * *

 **Lucy POV**

I woke up in a panic, gasping for breath and clutching my heart. I felt something rolling down my face and quickly brushed it away not knowing what it was. When my hand came back wet I realized that I was covered in sweat. Confused as to the state I was in I focused on calming down my erratic breathing for a second until I remembered why it was racing in the first place. Throwing the covers off of me I scrambled out of bed and looked around frantically for my belt. When I finally found it hung over the back of a chair in the corner I flung myself at it and unclipped my keys from it. In a rush I went through each key until I found the one I was looking for.

"No!" I whispered angrily yanking off the blackened key from the ring and holding it in both of my hands. I couldn't do anything but stare at it for a minute in horror. The dream hadn't been a dream at all. Cancer… someone or something had done something to him from within the Spirit World.

"Open Gate of the Crab, Cancer!" I said barely keeping the tears at bay, while I swung the key in front of me. Nothing happened. "Open Gate of the Crab, Cancer! Open Gate of the Crab, Cancer! OPEN Gate of the Crab, Cancer!" I cried out fully aware that nothing was happening, there was no hint of magic and I couldn't sense a thing from him through the key. Even though there was no flicker of magic from the key I had to try. "OPEN GATE OF THE CRAB, CANCER!" I screamed, this time putting every ounce of magic I could call up into the summons. Again nothing happened. Screaming in pain, anger and denial I dropped to my knees and slammed my fists on the ground and hung my head above the key as I stared at it through a veil of tears.

Unlike Aquarius' key it was still intact but there was a crack down the middle of it and the usual shiny gold key was now an ashy black. My emotions must have drawn the attention of Loke because the next thing I know there is a tug on my powers as said spirit arrived.

"My Love, I'm a little bus- what happened, are you alright?" He asked coming up from behind me. When he saw what I was looking at he gasped and knelt down beside me, his hand reaching out to the key only to be withdrawn before he could touch it. "Cancer."

"He won't come Loke. I've tried, and tried and he won't answer. I thought it was all a dream, a horrible dream but when he didn't answer my call I knew it had to be real. What happened over there? Where is he? What or who could or would do this? What kind of monster would attack him and take away my friend?" I babbled, crying harder until speech became impossible. As I broke down Loke took me in his arms. I didn't resist, but I sat there stiffly, barely feeling his hand as he stroked my hair and rocked me back and forth.

"The king felt a disturbance in the Spirit World and wanted everyone accounted for, but I couldn't find Cancer. That's why I didn't come right away when I felt your panic and pain. I'm sorry. I don't know who would have done this, but I promise we will find Cancer and the person who did this and make them pay.

"I looked for Cancer, but couldn't find him anywhere. What I found instead were signs of a major struggle, something that should never have happened in the Spirit World. The king is always aware of anyone who enters the Spirit World and there wasn't any indication that there were invaders. But I can't believe the alternative… that a spirit did it. One of us… a spirit did this to Cancer. We may not all get along a hundred percent but we would never hurt each other." Loke vowed, his voice growing stronger with each word.

Wordlessly I nodded into his chest, completely agreeing with him. No spirit would hurt one of their own, especially not in their own home when their masters' weren't fighting. But it didn't matter what I thought, especially not now, now when I was clutching the blackened key that told me otherwise.

 _Not again._ I thought as everything started going numb. My vision tunneled as I focused on a spot in front of me while my hearing started going in and out. Distantly I heard the door crash open a second before Erik stormed in. I sensed him as he bent down beside me but I wasn't able to understand what they were saying even though I was right there.

Without warning I was transferred from Loke's arms to Erik's.

"Check… king… I'll be back." I distantly heard Loke say before watching him disappear. Reaching out to where he had been I collapsed into Erik.

"It's okay Luce, everything will be alright." Erik whispered to me.

I stared at him in disbelief.

"No, it's not. Nothing is okay, nothing is alright. Something happened to Cancer, another one of my friends is gone and I have no clue why, let alone what I'm supposed to do now. Erik… I can't breathe. I can't think. I don't know what's supposed to happen now. Tell me what to do… please." I whispered hollowly. I watched as the muscles in his throat worked while he thought of how to respond to my plea. I was just about to give up hope when he finally spoke.

"We will find out what happened to Cancer, I promise you that. Even though Cancer is missing our plans haven't changed. We continue to look for the village, and once we find it, we will fix Aquarius' key and Cancer's key then you'll get both of your spirits back. We'll find a way to fix all of this Lucy." He murmured.

I let myself be held for a while longer before I forced myself to get moving. I needed… I needed to do something, anything other than sitting here. Once I got to my feet and avoided Erik's concerned glance I started pacing, trying to remember everything I had seen in my dream. I hadn't seen Cancer during the dream, it was like I was seeing everything through his eyes instead, possibly because of the connection we through our contract.

Cancer had just finished cutting a spirit's hair and was watching as the spirit I didn't know walk out

"Ebi! Who are you?" Cancer said, having been startled by a figure who had appeared behind him. The person behind him was covered head to toe in black, only letting their eyes be visible and that was the part Cancer focused on. The hardened blood red eyes focused solely on Cancer, as they silently stalked closer to him, causing Cancer to back away with each step. "Where did you come from? The king didn't say anything about a visitor. Wait… what do you think you're doing?" He cried when the figure lunged for him.

Dodging the attack Cancer pulled out his scissors, ready to attack. However Cancer was only able to get a couple of swings in before the figure knocked him backwards into a set of chairs. The chairs splintered upon impact, and one of the pieces was imbedded in Cancer's leg. Staggering to his feet Cancer backed into the wall behind him for support before he yanked out the piece of wood and tossed it aside. A second later Cancer zoomed towards his attacker, scissors at the ready. With each slash of his scissors the person dodged as if anticipating Cancer's every move, only when Cancer grew frustrated and switched his tactic did he get a couple of good hits in, but it wasn't enough. Despite his enhanced speed Cancer was knocked backed again, this time denting the wardrobe he hit. The force of the impact staggered him, and he wasn't quick enough to avoid the wardrobe as it fell on him.

"Pathetic." His attacker said in disgust; by the sound of the voice it was a woman.

As Cancer gained his feet once more, picking up his discarded scissors as he went the figure sped out of sight and grabbed Cancer from behind, locking his arm around the crab's neck and twisting it at an odd angle until there was an audible crack, paralyzing him. With the crack I felt/saw Cancer's limbs go limp as he slumped against the woman. Luckily the paralysis didn't last very long, but before he could regain control the woman injected him in the neck with something. Everything after that had started fading away, as Cancer lost consciousness and was consumed by pain. The last thing I remember seeing was the attacker kneeling down in front of Cancer holding something to Cancer's head while saying something under their breath.

"Il nuovo regno attende." I whispered the words feeling familiar on my tongue. "Il nuovo regno attende." I repeated the words again trying to job my memory of where I had heard or seen the words before.

"What was that?" Cobra asked from his spot on the ground where he watched as I had paced around the room.

For a second I thought about ignoring him, but quickly shook away the thought. He deserved more than that from me, especially since he had stuck with me through all of my moodiness and my crazy endeavor to find a way to get Aquarius back. "Il nuovo regno attende. The person that attack Cancer said it before everything went black, severing my connection to Cancer. I don't know what it means but I know I've seen or heard it somewhere. I should ask Loke when he comes back, if he's right and it is a spirit that attacked Cancer then he should know the language and its meaning." Looking at him I saw a look of confusion on his face and realized he was probably wondering how I knew what the attacker had said.

"I'm not confused over the how. I'm trying to remember where we saw those words, 'cause they do sound familiar." It was my turn to be confused, how did he already know? I swore I didn't say a word as I recalled my 'dream'. "Strong emotions remember? You're thoughts are projecting like crazy. Though I kind of miss the silence, your head is filled to the brim. How you keep anything straight is beyond me." He grumbled. Watching him stand up I groaned and covered my face with my hands. "Just breathe Luce, just breathe. I was joking, I don't mind hearing everything if I did I'd block you out. Your emotions will settle down eventually, but right now you have every right to feel like you do. Someone attacked your friend and no one knows where he is. That's not even including the fact that another one of your keys has been broken."

I nodded silently knowing he was right. "I just don't understand why and who would do this. Why now of all times?"

"Aquarius. With one of the strongest spirits out of commission in Earthland maybe whoever it is decided to take advantage. As to their end goal, that's anyone's guess at this point. We'll know more when we get that phrase translated once Loke returns. Until then why don't we get something to eat, or get some rest, that sound good?" He asked, taking me into his arms.

"I… I can't. I can't sleep and I don't know if I could keep anything down right now. I think I'd rather go back to the library, see if I can find anything that might be of use. I know we just got here and all but maybe we can make a trip to my old house? Just for a day or two to collect some things, then we'll come back here since it's further from Fairy Tail and in a better location to travel from. Plus being somewhere familiar could go a long way to making me feel better, at least a little bit. It's where I first met Cancer and Aquarius. Besides that we'll probably find some useful books there, maybe even a couple of maps. What I'm trying to say is that it wouldn't be a total waste. You could stay here if you don't want to go, I'm okay with going alone." I finished my rant lamely, looking down at my feet.

"Hey, look at me." He said trying to catch my eyes, but I easily avoided it by looking the opposite way. "Luce look at me." This time He did leave it up to me and lifted my face up to look at him. "Whatever you need I'm here. If you want to go to your old house to gain what little comfort you can then we'll go. If you need that pink haired maniac here to make you feel better so be it, but I reserve the right to knock his annoying ass out when the time comes." I laughed at that, knowing Erik wouldn't last very long before some poison accidentally got into Natsu's food or drink. "That's better. I'm going to shower then get something to eat because I'm fucking starving. When you're ready just holler at me so I know what it is we're doing." With a gentle kiss, first on my forehead then my lips, he left me in the room by myself to collect my thoughts and figure out what my next step was.

 **Erik POV**

I wasn't even in the shower for ten minutes and that stubborn ass woman left me, and she didn't even bother to leave me a goddamned note. Nothing, nada, zip, zilch. The room we hadn't even spent a night in held no trace of Lucy. Her bags were gone, the bed no longer smelled like her because of the new sheets that had been put on. I don't even know why she bothered since she had slept on it for only a few hours. I growled and grumbled to myself as I stuffed my dirty clothes in the separate bag Lucy insisted I use so my clean clothes would remain clean, before I grabbed fresh clothes out of my pack. Shoving the bag of soiled clothes into my other bag I rolled my eye and shook my head at the ridiculousness of it all.

"How dare she leave without a work after I told her I'd give her anything she needed. Hel I would have been alright with her going off on her own for a day or two if she had just told me. But no, I didn't even warrant a fucking note." I ignored the barely audible thumps coming from the door, not in the mood to deal with whoever was knocking. "Fuck off." I snarled to the door, even though I knew that whoever was on the other side wouldn't be able to hear me. A second later the knocking stopped, but the door knob turned until Yukino stuck her head inside with one hand covering her eyes. "What the fuck do you want?" I said, striding up to the door to open it fully, not feeling guilty when it almost made Sorano's sister lose her balance.

 _Crap he scared me! I wonder why he's so cranky. Maybe I should come back later._ She mused to herself.

"Just spit it out already, I won't be here much longer." I hissed, trying to get control of my anger and annoyance at a particular blonde. My attempts at control obviously didn't work very well when she squeaked and put her hands on her head as if that would prevent me from hearing her. "Really?" I chuckled at her idiocy.

 _Oh my gosh, did I really just try to block him out with my hands? How embarrassing. He's gonna think I'm a complete idiot… this isn't helping, is it?_ She thought with an audible groan realizing I had heard everything. In response I shook my head and smirked. For a minute she stared at me silently, clearly at a loss for words, while berating herself in her head. When I raised my brows in question she snapped out of her funk and remembered why she had bothered me in the first place.

 _Oh right! Lucy._ She thought and my scowl returned. _Why is he scowling again? Did he and Lucy get into a fight? No that can't be, Lucy didn't seem upset when I saw her last._

"What about Lucy?"

"Oh…umm… she wanted me to tell you that she wanted to leave Sabertooth for her old home. She sa-" My mood darkened as she continued talking but I didn't really pay attention, I was just focused on the leaving part. Noticing my mood she slowly started to back away from me while still talking. I was about to slam the door in her face when her words finally registered. "…waiting for you in-"

"Wait Lucy's still here?" I asked the retreating mage. At her nod I closed the door as she basically ran away and groaned. "I'm a damned idiot."

I had overreacted and assumed the worst. I blamed the goddamned reinforced walls and doors I couldn't hear for shit, let alone track Lucy by scent. If we were at Fairy Tail I would have been able to hear the people in the guild hall and know that she was still here. The worst park about the entire situation was that I had to apologize to Yukino, and hope she didn't tell anybody about what just happened. Knowing how unlikely it was that Lucy wouldn't know about this by the time I got to her had me groaning as I hauled my pack onto my shoulder and left the room to face the inevitable teasing of my friends.

I didn't hear or see anybody in the private living area as I passed through it, and the lack of anybody there didn't make me feel any better, it only served to increase my dread.

Hopefully Lucy's close to the doors so we could make a quick escape. I thought pushing the doors open and letting the noise of the guild wash over me. I scanned the room for Lucy and it was just my luck that she was smack dab in the heart of the guild surrounded by the people I wanted to avoid. As if she sensed me Lucy looked at me with an amused look before shaking her head at me as she giggled.

For a second I forgot about the teasing that was bound to happen and just enjoyed the sound of her laughter. It was so rarely that she laughed, and the few times that she did, she was quick to remember her misplaced guilt and resume her sullenness. I don't know how long I stood there staring at my girl, it was probably only a minute, but it was enough time for the others' attention to shift to me and for Sting and Racer to burst out laughing, while Sorano laughed softly behind her hand and Midnight gave me a look of disgust before promptly shutting out the world by closing his eyes.

Walking towards their table I ignored the confused looks I was getting while shutting out the guilds' thoughts. I didn't know these people and had no need to know them. Midnight, Sorano and Racer obviously thought they were alright, otherwise they would have never joined the guild, and those three were less trusting than me. But then again I'm pretty sure Sorano would have done anything to stay with her sister after finding her after all of these years. From the day that I met her at the Tower and every day afterwards she had thought of her sister, always wondering if she was doing alright or if she was still alive.

My plan was to grab Lucy and go, but that didn't look like it would happen as they made room for me next to Luce and stared at me expectantly. Reluctantly I said down next to her, not knowing what to say, so I focused on Yukino and apologized for freaking her out earlier. During my apology Lucy's hand slid onto my knee and gave it a squeeze, reassuring me that everything was okay. Looking down at her I forgot about everybody else I leaned down to give her a kiss.

"You're whipped dude." Sting said now that he had stopped laughing, Racer nodded in agreement looking at me as if I had lost my mind. A second later Sting grunted in pain when Yukino's boney elbow dug into his side as she gave him a softly worded order to be nice and apologize. The 'or else' part was left unsaid but was clearly implied by the look she gave him before turning away from him and smiling at me warily. Begrudgingly Sting muttered a quick sorry as he draped his arm around Yukino and dragged her closer to him.

"Looks like he's not the only one." The giant God Slayer said with a smirk.

Everyone laughed as Sting's face turned red and he lunged across the table at Orga, while carefully avoiding Yukino so she wouldn't be hurt. However, Sting never touched Orga as he shifted out of the way just in time and let his guild master crash to the ground in a heap. The crash didn't faze him as he sprung to his feet and dragged Orga out of his seat and sent him flying into a group of people across the room. And just like that a guild-wide fight started, very similar to the ones at Fairy Tail, but with less fire and ice flying everywhere.

Lucy's hand gripped my tightly and tugged at me until I was standing, and my attention was on her instead of the fight.

"Let's get out of here. Yukino said these fights can last just as long as ours when Erza isn't disturbed. I'd rather get out now before I'm atta – eep." Her eyes widened in horror as a stray chair flew her way, before it could crash into her I pulled her out of the way of the rogue chair. "…attacked. Why does that always happen?" She muttered under her breath.

Laughing at her disgruntled look I nodded at Midnight when he asked if we were leaving, then easily evaded the flying objects and people as we walked to the front door.


	13. Chapter 13

**an: Okay so first off let me start off by apologizing for the horribly long wait. My life got completely insane over the past year. Between losing friends (not death, more drama filled), starting a bachelor's program, having surgery, and overall enjoying life as best I can, I never made the time to type up this chapter...even though it had been written in my notebook. The good news is that chapter 14 is half way written, and you have my promise it won't be a year between chapters again. As I said in my profile...at least I think I did, I have every intention of finishing this story, and publishing others afterwards.**

 **Lucy POV**

"This has been a waste of time and energy." I mumbled to myself as I flipped through the last few pages of the book in front of me. Who would have thought that mom and dad would have so many boring books on business, accounting and other subjects that I had no use for at this moment and probably in the future. I was getting nowhere with the unmarked books in this room and had even started organizing books into piles depending on where I was going to donate them or let Freed and Rufus look through to pick the ones they wanted. As for the ones that I wanted to keep they mainly consisted of photo albums, personal journals from my parents and grandparents and the occasional magical prevention book that I found interesting.

Erik and I had been going through my parent's library for a couple of days now and we still had a hundred or more unmarked books to go through. Even with the gale-force glasses it was taking us forever to get through them all and at this point I was tempted to call it quits because dad obviously kept to his 'no magic' or 'magic isn't for families like ours' mentality when it came to his library. The only thing that was different about the estate was that dad had re-hung the portraits he had stored away when mom died. The ones of her and her spirits, the three of us, and even the one of Aquarius and I playing in the fountain. When I first encountered them, I stood there crying over the memories and the missed opportunity I had to reconcile with my father. So much so that Erik had to guide me away after I sat on the floor staring at them for hours.

"Damn it!" Speaking of Erik, I glanced over at the cursing slayer to see that one of his piles of books had fallen on top of him. "Luce, why do you have so many god-damned books?"

I chuckled at that comment as I knew that this wasn't the only place dad kept his books. "Erik, I hate to break it to you, but dad has more books throughout the house. Also, I'm hoping that we can find a few boxes of books in the attic if dad didn't get rid of them. I should have known dad wouldn't have added any books on magic to his collection." Erik balked at me before slamming his head on the shelf behind him causing more books to fall on his head.

"I've never read so much!" He complained, throwing the closest book across the room. Yanking the glasses off his face he scrubbed his face with his other hand, muttering something unintelligible.

"Why don't you take a walk? I'll finish up here and then we can have some dinner." I said feeling bad for putting him through this. Standing between his legs I leaned over to rub his shoulders. As I leaned down to kiss the top of his head Erik groaned as some of the tension in his shoulders disappeared as he began to relax. Even though I was the one giving him a massage the repetitive motion of my hands digging into his muscles relaxed and soothed me. I had noticed that when I touched him my mind stopped thinking about a million things at once and I was able to think about something other than Aquarius and Cancer. So, every so often I would find myself reaching out to touch his leg or hold his hand as we read the past couple of days, something he seemed to enjoy going by the smile he sent my way each time.

"How 'bout we both take a break." He suggested as he slid his hands up by legs and rested them on my upper thighs, making me shiver. He began a massage of his own as he kneaded my thighs, slowly moving his hands up with each knead. "You've barely rested since we got here." He whispered stroking his fingers along the top of my skirt as he slowly pulled it down my hips when I didn't move to stop him. I was enjoying the sensation of his fingertips grazing my bare skin, so much so that for a moment I nearly gave into him. But when my foot accidentally sent a book skidding across the floor I remembered all the books we still had to read through before I had to make arrangements to travel to the Black Forest on the way back to Sabertooth. As I moved to push away from him, he lifted me up by my legs and settled me into his lap, his lips attaching to my neck the second it was in reach. I shivered as his breath raced over the spot he had been sucking on.

"Mhmmm… Erik we can't – ohh." I moaned when he bit the spot he had been working on. Griping his hair in my hand I pulled him away from my neck. "So many books to go through." I tried to mumble in between kisses, but I'm sure it came out in a jumbled mess.

"An hour, maybe two. The books aren't going anywhere." He coaxed as he pulled away just long enough to whip my shirt over my head, unhook and remove my bra. "Closer to two hours." He said more to himself as he stared hungrily at my breasts.

My laughter quickly turned to moans as he latched onto my nipple, sucking hard. Dragging him closer to me I wrapped my legs around his waist and racked my hands down his sides until I reached the bottom of his shirt. Wanting nothing more than to feel his skin against mine I pulled his shirt up between us, pushing him back to get it over his head. Before his shirt was completely off I started trailing kisses up his chest, leaving little love bites as I went. Grinding down on him I saw Erik's eye gleam with triumph when he realized I was on board with his break idea. Guiding my kisses north he ensnared my lips with his as he stood up and took a step forward before pausing, probably remembering that the closest bedroom was up a flight of stairs and down a long, long hallway.

"Erik the couch, the wall, hell the floor would work just pick a place." I demanded impatiently, reaching down to release him from his pants. When he continued to just stand there I wriggled free of his hold and went to my knees.

"Luce, stop." He said distractedly, cocking his head to the side. Growling in protest I continued to stroke him and leaned in to take him in my mouth when one of his hands covered mine and made me release my hold on him. I watched in confused frustration as he undid all my work by tucking himself back in and sealing his pants back up. "Get your shit back on." He said, frantically looking around the floor for our clothes.

"Are you freaking serious right now? Erik-"

"Luce you know I'd love nothing more than to make love to you, but we have company. Laxus and his merry band just popped up downstairs, Natsu and his mouthy cat are barreling up the road, and Sting, Rogue and their team are just behind him. So, unless you want everyone to see what's mine I'd appreciate it if you got dressed. Now."

"Asshole." I muttered as I did what he asked, no demanded. _Why the hell were all these people here and why did they have to chose now?_

"But I'm your asshole." Erik smirked, helping me to my feet and kissing me deeply. Handing me my discarded clothes, he left the room to greet our guests.

Following behind him as I dressed I glared jokingly at our unexpected visitors. "What's going on? Why are you guys here and why is it Natsu and Happy know were we are?"

"Nice to see you too Cosplayer, did we interrupt something?" Bickslow asked with a smirk as he took in my disheveled appearance. Looking down I noticed that my shirt was inside out. Muttering an oath, I tore off my shirt to fix the problem. Erik instantly stood in front of me to block me from sight.

"If you know what's good for you Bicks, you won't finish that thought." Erik growled, turning around to speed me up.

"It's not any different than my bikini Erik, chill out." I huffed, pushing away his hands. Looking around his shoulder at Laxus with my brow raised I asked again. "Why are you here and how does Natsu know where we are?"

"It was much better than your bikini Cosplayer." Bickslow said, with a wink and his tongue sticking out. He must have finished the thought Erik hadn't liked because the next second Erik growled and tackled him to the floor. Ignoring them I turned to the others.

"We were going to warn you about Natsu, but he had a head start since this one got distracted with the she-demon." Ever said while watching the guys wrestle.

Sighing heavily, I made my way to the front door, estimating how wide the double doors would swing open I took a healthy step back and waited for Natsu to burst in. It didn't take long before the doors flew open, bringing my best friend and a huge cloud of dust with him. "Natsu-urg" I started, grunting when he slammed into me and hugged me tight. Wrapping my arms around him I leaned my head on his shoulder as Happy landed on my head and squeezed my head. I could hear the others talking behind me but ignored them and focused on Natsu. I had closed myself off from him for so long that I had forgotten how Natsu's hugs could make everything seem okay, and how they made me feel at peace, even if only for a little while.

"You're my partner Lucy, you're not supposed to go through things like this alone." He said. "I'm always here for you."

"Yeah Lushy." Happy chimed.

"I know." I mumbled. I did know that he was always there, I just hadn't been ready and telling the others would have made it more real. Sensing the beginning of tears, he chuffed, and wiped the moisture from my eyes. I smiled up at him as he displaced Happy by running his hand over my hair. "How'd you know I'd be here?"

He laughed and scratched the back of his head. "Levy guessed. She said if you were looking for a way to get Aquarius back you would likely start with your mom's books."

"I should have, but the jobs kept mentioning rare magic or celestial keys that I kept putting it off. Then Erik… I didn't want to leave him along for long, considering the guild's lack of hospitality. And with Loke's uncertainty about the whole situation I assumed mom wouldn't have any helpful books either…which so far I was right about." I let out a loud sigh knowing I should tell him and get it over with. "I mainly came here because Cancer is gone Natsu. Another one of my friends, my family, was taken from me and I'm afraid it'll happen to the others if I don't do something or find something to stop it."

Natsu was at a loss for words, his mouth kept opening as if he was going to say something but then he'd close it a second later. Knowing that there was nothing he could say to make me feel better he took me in his arms again and hugged me for all he was worth, almost to the point where I couldn't breathe. But in that moment, I didn't care, I was glad that he was back in my corner, no longer in the dark about what had happened. Until now I hadn't voiced my concern that all my spirits were at risk, that whatever had kidnapped Cancer would do the same for the rest of my friends but as I talked to him everything had just spilled out.

"You should be worried." Sting's voice sounded from behind Natsu. Lifting my head up I peered over Natsu's shoulder to see that Sting's golden hair was plastered to his face with a combination of sweat and dirt. I was about to ask him what he meant by that comment when he continued. "One of Yukino's spirits was taken last night. We were going to call you but figured we would just help you instead." He said it with a stern look as if expecting me to protest, when all I did was nod my head he turned around and exited the estate.

I watched as he met up with his team and helped Yukino out of the vehicle. If Sting hadn't already told me what had happened I would have been calling for Wendy, because Yukino was extremely pale and looked as if she had been attacked. I was sure that she would have fallen if it hadn't been for Sting and Sorano holding her up. My step forward drew her attention and saw the tears gathering in her eyes before she turned into Sting and wrapped her arms around him. He whispered something to her before picking her up and walking past us and into the estate.

"We were hoping you found something." Rufus said walking up the stairs with curiosity, as he took in my family home.

"Sadly nothing. I still have more books we haven't looked at yet. But with you guys here we can get through the rest by tomorrow." With this new development I knew that we had to speed up the search before another spirit was taken from us. After ushering everyone in the door I rushed into the receiving room where I left one of my bags. "These will help you read faster." I explained how to use them as I passed my extra gale-force glasses to the Sabertooth team and the Raijinshu, calling out for Virgo when the last pair left my possession. "Can you escort Yukino and Sting to the guest wing? Sorry it might be dusty, but it'll have everything you need." I got no response from Yukino but Sting mumbled a quick thanks before following Virgo who was precariously balancing everyone else's bags in her arms as she walked away.

"Lucy where are my glasses?" Natsu asked with a pointed look.

"You and I are going out for the day. We've somewhere to explore." I said, smiling at how excited he got.

"What the hell Luce?" Erik growled angrily. "You're not leaving me here to _read_ as you and Natsu go to the Black Forest. Let Flame-breath read, and I'll go with you". I would have laughed at how he said 'read' as if it were the worst possible thing in the world, if it wouldn't have made him more upset.

"Change of plans Erik." I snapped in reply to his tone. "I've been doing some thinking about the Black Forest and if I'm right and there is some sort of portal linking them to each other then it is most likely leads to somewhere in between our world and the Spirit World. And since I know Natsu can travel to the spirit world without special clothing, that I would have to ask the King for, I think its best if he comes with me since I wouldn't want you or anyone else to get hurt. This also means we wouldn't have to wait for the King to make time for us and he can continue to focus on what the hell is happening in the Spirit World." Seeing that the others looked completely lost I walked to the table with the maps laid out with additional markings I'd made during breaks from reading. Going over everything I had found and my hypothesis, that I was 95% sure was correct I began to see that we were all on the same page.

"So, because the maps have hidden constellations you think that those forests are connected?" Freed asked, his head bowed over the table. Both he and Rufus were going over them and measuring out each constellation found in the Black Forests.

"Pretty much." I answered, biting my bottom lip as I waited for their examination to end. They both hummed at me, then looked at each other silently communicating. It was nerve racking having two of the smartest mages I knew going over my amateur investigation and waiting to see if all my hopes and dreams of being reunited with my friends was causing me to see things that weren't there. _Maybe I shouldn't have dismissed Erik's thoughts on the whole thing, maybe I was imagining the constellations within the maps, maybe all this work was for nothing._ My heartrate spiked during my musings and I began wringing my hands as I anxiously waited for them to finish. I was so focused on the two, bent over the maps I jumped when I felt someone place their hands over my shoulders and breathe into my ear.

"Breathe Luce. This hasn't been for nothing, we're going to find the bastards that hurt your spirit and find a way to get them back." Erik whispered, moving his arms so he could hug me from behind. I took his advice and inhaled deeply, taking in his scent and melting into his hold.

"I really wish we hadn't been interrupted earlier." I said softly as I exhaled. I missed the days where we would just sit around, play games and enjoy each other's company. Ever since we took that last job it has been nothing but running around, trying to figure shit out. But to be honest I was glad he was the one with me every step of the way. Looking up over my shoulder I squeezed him closer and gladly accepted the kiss he bestowed. He chuckled, when someone began clearing their throat… loudly, before promising to make it up to me later and focusing his attention on the two mages in front of us.

"Your hypothesis seems sound. Each of the constellations are equally distanced and have the strange markings in the legends." Rufus said more to Freed than anyone else as they exchanged their notes.

"I concur. If what Lucy says is correct then anyone besides the two of them, being Natsu and Lucy, could potentially become stuck between the realms or lost entering the portals. So, it makes sense that only those two investigate the forest until we know for sure." Freed said, shrugging apologetically to Erik.

Natsu let out an excited shout, jumping to stand next to me. "Awesome, when do we leave?" He asked me impatiently.

I shook my head and smiled at him. "Give me an hour. There is something I've got to check first. Feel free to raid the kitchen, it is fully stocked with more to come tomorrow." I offered pointing in the direction of the kitchen door.

Natsu sprinted with Happy close behind. The other Dragon Slayers followed the two, shouting threats if Natsu ate everything. Seeing myself out of the room I walked up the main stairs and down the hall leading to the guest wing where Sting and Yukino were. Knocking on their door I waited for Sting's yell of permission for me to enter. Not seeing them in the sitting area I made my way to the bedroom where I saw that Yukino was sleeping with a pacing Sting nearby. With just a glance I noticed the dark bags under his eyes, along with the unruliness of his hair and attire.

"Did you find something?" He asked, barely sparing me a glance.

I shook my head in answer. Looking around the room I noticed that they had only removed the cover from the bed and hadn't removed the white sheets from any of the other furniture. Giving me something to do so I could think about how I was going to address the issue, I began removing the sheets revealing the teak furniture that matched the bed perfectly. They still looked as if mom had just ordered them from the shop. With all the sheets nicely folded and placed in the closet I took a seat on the love seat and watched Sting.

"Sting stop pacing and sit down." He ignored me with a glare. "You need rest just as much as she does, there is nothing you could have done to prevent this. Not even the King knew what was happening before it was too late. Hell, he still doesn't know what is happening."

He growled quietly. "I can't leave her like this. What if she wakes up and no one is here? I'll just have them bring me food when I get hungry."

"That right there is an indicator of how bad off you are. Not once have you or Natsu not been hungry. All this worrying and pacing isn't good for you. If you're worried about her being along then take turns watching her, but eventually she will snap out of it and start looking for a way to get Pisces back." On his next pass by I grabbed his arm and pulled him onto the seat next to me. Surprisingly he stumbled down on the couch. If he had been his normal self, there was no way I could have pulled him down and make him nearly fall.

"She's right." Sting jumped off the cushions and rushed to the waking Celestial Mage. "I'm fin… no that's a lie. I'm pissed, I'm hurt and I'm incredibly sad. As much as I want to lay here and cry over Pisces, that isn't going to help get them back. I want to help, in whatever way I can." Standing up I went to the opposite side of Sting and took her hand as I sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Everyone is going to go through the rest of my parent's books, hopefully there will be something useful. You still have your gale-force glasses, right?" She nodded her head that was leaning on Sting's shoulder. "Good, I gave everyone else a pair, so it shouldn't take long to read everything. While that's covered Natsu and I are going to check out a theory of mine.

I know this is hard, I really do, but there is something that only you can help with. Can you remember anything from Pisces kidnapping, anything at all?" A single tear trailed down her face, making me cringe and Sting glare at me protectively above Yukino's head. I wanted nothing more than to leave her to rest but what she saw could be important and would help us find out if the attacks were connected. I hadn't seen Pisces' key, but for now I was assuming it was a black mess as Cancer's was.

After a few minutes of listening to Yukino relive that horrible moment as she cringed and jerked around, I squeezed her hand in comfort and support. "Heredes succedunt jure… I don't know what it means, but whoever attacked them said it right before Pisces was knocked out and everything went black." She finished covering her face with her hands as she began crying. I leaned over to hug her, but Sting beat me to it and gathered her into his lap and whispered words of comfort to her. Taking this as my cue to leave I quietly thanked her and left them alone.

 _Heredes succedunt jure. Il nuovo regno attende… what do they mean? And why do they sound so familiar?_ I was so lost in thought that I found myself walking to my mom's craft room, unintentionally seeking comfort from her things. Opening the door, I was unprepared for how it had changed and gasped at what I saw. Instead of her sewing machine, needles, yarn, frames and fabric neatly organized around the room there were now floor to ceiling shelves filled with books I had never seen. Dad must have started a new collection…one mom and I had always dreamed of. I walked to the nearest shelf and ran my fingers along the spines, books on various types of magic, some I was familiar with and others that I had never heard of. Spinning around I gazed in wonder, taking it all in. As I did one last spin I stopped abruptly when I finally noticed the glass case sitting under the window. Rushing towards it to get a better look at what it held I released a startled scream as I flew backwards, all the way out of the door I had just entered and crashed into the wall behind me.

Sliding to the floor in a daze, amazed at what had just happened I watched as a wall of yellow appeared for a second around the glass case. I studied it from my spot on the floor for a second before getting up. Approaching the case again I stopped about five feet away from it and threw the hair band I had on my wrist at the space before me. Like me the yellow wall repelled the object and sent it flying away. As I took this in a thunder of footsteps came running up the hall.

"Luce! Lucy!" Erik and Natsu yelled at the same time, announcing their arrival. They both rushed to move me behind them, but I pushed them back before they could touch the invisible wall. "What happened? Are you okay?" They asked fighting to get in front of me and looking around for danger.

"Will you guts stop! I'm fine, but you won't be if you keep moving forward." I huffed in annoyance. Seeing that everyone else had come to investigate the ruckus I excitedly moved around my two protectors and moved to grab Freed before stopping myself. Looking at both Rufus and Freed I had the cheesiest grin, "my library officially trumps yours." I felt the need to point out before grabbing Freed and dragging him to the wall.

"Is that a-" Erik started, making a point to detach my hand from Freed's and taking it into his own.

"Yes, yes, it is." I grinned and nodded vigorously. "I can't see it well enough to tell who it is. I would also bet you anything that those books are about Celestial magic. I need in… and that's where you come in Freed. There is a wall, just there." I said outlining where I had seen it appear.

He wrote a couple of runes over the barrier in front of us. Where we once saw nothing, the yellow wall appeared and stayed visible. Now that it wasn't disappearing a second later I could make out the area it covered. It went from inside the room and extended past the window, creating a perfect box around it. Amazingly it also provided protection from below and over the glass case I wanted to get to.

"This will take awhile Lucy." Freed said distractedly, pacing the barrier.

While I said okay, I really didn't mean it. If we could get to that case, we could stop reading the books downstairs. Knowing my father, this room held all the books on magic, not magic prevention, but actual teachings about how to use and enhance a person's magic. "Yeah, okay… maybe I should stay and help." I offered, not wanting to leave until I had gotten my hands on those books and that key. Freed looked at me as if I were crazy, because despite the time I had spent with him, I had learned nothing about runes and knew I would be no help. "Fine." I sighed heavily, "but call me the second you get through and walk me through the books and show me that key…please." I tacked on quickly, remembering myself.

"Another Black key." Yukino said excitedly, peering over my shoulder. "And those books, I'll read them to you when he gets the wall down." She promised, nodding sagely at her I reluctantly walked out of the room, leaving Freed to do his thing.

Everyone else left the Rune mage alone for now as they talked about finishing the feast that was downstairs before coming back up to read the books I had just found. However, Erik stayed behind all the while holding my hand. I waited for everyone to be out of sight before backing him into the wall.

"Luce, I'm sorry I yelled." He opened his mouth to continue speaking but I silenced him with a kiss.

"No, I'm sorry. I changed the plan so suddenly you were bound to react badly, especially since you'd be left doing your new favorite pastime." I teased, giving him another kiss when he gave me a mock scowl. "I've been going it over in my head how I was going to talk to the King and ask for the clothes you'd need just in case it was a portal, but we got engrossed in the books, in being back home, and with all the stress and lack of sleep I kept putting it off. I'm more upset and terrified that I didn't think of it earlier. What if you had gone with me and got lost or hurt? What if whoever is hurting out spirits go to you? I wouldn't have been able to live with myself."

"Nothing happened, and nothing is going to happen. You caught it in time. Am I happy that you could be walking into danger with out me? No, but I know that while I'm stuck ready you can handle yourself and that Flame-brain will do everything in his power to keep you safe."

"You are just full of surprising Erik." I smiled up at him. "Have I told you recently how I wish we hadn't been interrupted before? Cause I can really use that break right about now." As I mentioned our 'break' he hooked his fingers into the top of my skirt and dragged me closer. Grinning I wound my arms around his neck and brought his lips within kissing range. It started as a gently kiss but quickly became something more as he snaked his tongue between my lips. Moaning into the kiss I opened my mouth more, so he could have better access. He was in the process of sliding his hands up the back of my shirt when we were interrupted, yet again.

"At least close the door." Freed grumbled, his face was beat red, from embarrassment and annoyance was my guess since he refused to look at either of us. Erik and I laughed as he closed the door.

"I'll miss you." I said looking into Erik's eye after we were done laughing. "We shouldn't be gone long, a day maybe two. But time might pass by differently like the spirit world… I'll try to have Virgo or Loke check in just in case."

"I'm not going anywhere Luce. I'll either be here when you get back or finding my way to you if you're gone for months without a word from your spirits." He captured my lips with his once more and we stood entwined in each other's arms until we heard Natsu calling my name.

Hand in hand we walked to the front, where my bad and Natsu waited. After one last lingering kiss Natsu and I walked out the door.

"I'll miss you too." I faintly heard Erik say as the door closed behind us.

 **an: remember all reviews, favorites and follows are appreciated and encouraged! :P**


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